JR Newsletter: 9 October 2016 (314)

We have a few contributions this week. 

First, Ralph Muñoz wrote about the Kolbe and Fanning Book Sale #143:

I just received my catalog in the mail yesterday.  Kobe & Fanning Numismatic Booksellers (http://www.numislit.com/) is offering a complete set of the John Reich Journal Vols. 1-24 (Whole Numbers 1-74), plus the first two issues of Vol. 25 including the index volumes after Vols. 10 and 20.  Estimate $500.  

Plus there are other interesting books for those members looking to add some hard to get reference materials to their libraries.

Ralph Munoz

JRCS #30

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Winston Zack inquired:

Will the JRCS have a meeting and/or educational presentation at the Baltimore show next month?

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Pete Mosiondz, Jr. wrote:

I was pleased to obtain a very nice coin recently and would like to share some thoughts with our friends. 

More often than not when I look at an encapsulated coin I say to myself, “How did they arrive at that determination?” Most of the time I feel that a particular coin is overgraded. 

I remember meeting Abe Kosoff many years ago when I was beginning to dabble in coins as a part-time dealer. I asked him for some guidance based on his many years of experience. He was very gracious and spent quite a bit of time with me, more than I could have ever hoped for. The one thing that always stayed in my mind was his strong opinion on grading. This was before he became involved with organizing the American Numismatic Association Certification Service. He told me to always look at a coin objectively and not with rose-colored glasses. He suggested recognizing and evaluating the coin’s negative aspects (detractions and imperfections) then recognizing and evaluating the coin’s positive aspects (strengths). Evaluate the overall eye appeal. Does it look nice or maybe not so nice? Finally, and most importantly, always be conservative in your grading. In other words never “stretch” the grade. 

At the time we were using Brown and Dunn or Jim Ruddy’s new Photograde book. Abe was adapting the Sheldon grading system for other coins as well, especially in his auction sales.

 I must say that the professional graders who graded the 1823 Capped Bust Half Dollar (image below), that I happily obtained from a dealer friend recently, must have had Abe’s thoughts in mind. I thought to myself, “Why isn’t this an AU coin?” Do you agree, or am I wearing rose-colored glasses? By the way, it is an O-105.

Pete Mosiondz, Jr.
Email: choochoopete(at)comcast.net