I moved from collecting U.S. Coins exclusively to collecting World Coins to keep me in that perfect state of mind but sometimes things change. Over the last 4 months I have been attending a lot of coin shows and there has been less and less foreign coins so my attention turned back to U.S. Coins. Soon I was searching for die varities & errors and chatting up a storm here and there about my purchased victories but I wasn't having Fun! If anything, I was constantly researching and hunting for that next under-valued coin to the point that it was interfering with life.

I found myself becoming obsessive and to some extent an investor and for me it just wasn't that joy that turned me on to the hobby. Varieties and errors were never the reason why I started collecting. It was all about history and how I connected to it through coins. Once I realized what was happening, the brakes were applied and my bliss returned once more. In other words, I wasn't being true to the real reason why I love coin collecting.

The more you learn about a hobby the greater the possibility is of forgetting what is was that attracted you in the first place. My advice to readers is never forget why! Write it down if you must, cause if you don't then it's a quick road from fun hobby to laborious chore or rut.

Current subscribers will receive a monthly copy of Coin World that will be incorporating all of the aspects of Worldwide Coins in a special monthly issue. On the plus side, current subscribers were receiving bi-monthly issues and will now be receiving monthly updates.

I start every morning buying a cup of coffee. It's a ritual I've come to really enjoy this year as the cup-of-joe costs $1.79 so I get the added joy of seeing if I get lucky finding a 2009 dime or Lincoln commem penny and a quick side note, I've only gotten 1 2009 dime & penny so far.

After going through my change search ritual, I cracked open the old newspaper and noticed the headline that Starbucks exceeded earnings expectations yet again.

This got me thinking, some investors view the sale of commercial coffee chains (like Starbucks) as an indicator to the health of the economy. So if more folks by premium coffee then they have more disposable income and the economy is on its way to better things. Can the same philosophy be used for predicting increases/decreases of mintages for U.S. coins? This remains to be seen, but it was a crazy enough thought I might actually keep an eye on this to see if there is a connection.

Two gentlemen were at a table of dealer I'm fond of and monopolizing 8 coin boxes. Normally this isn't an issue but the two gentlemen were there before I arrived and were still at the table when I left two hours later. They sported a Red Book and were pouring over every individual coin and when I was leaving I noticed that they only set aside 3 coins.

With no access to the table I figured no big deal as I can catch him at the next show, but on the drive home it hit me. I'll usually spend 10 to 20 minutes and drop anywhere from $50 to $200 for coins (granted we are not talking $100 and up coin values here as the selection is the $2 to $75 variety) so even if we took a lower number (say $25 in 15 minutes) that equates to $100/hr on the low side to upwards of $400/hr. That's quite a bit of business to lose out on but what was the dealer to do?

If he drives them away then he could miss out on repeat sales from them in the future but if he let's them stay he misses out on making money. That is a pretty tough spot to be and really makes me appreciate what a dealer has to contend with.

My only advice here is this: The next time you are at a coin show and a dealer is very friendly and courteous be sure to thank him/her even if you don't make a coin purchase. Anyone that can stay that upbeat deserves the occasional THANK YOU!

http://www.whitmanbooks.com/default.aspx?page=80&SubCatOID=114

On another note, they changed the packaging size yet again though it's not a real surprise considering the addition of the 4 Lincoln commemorative cents (did anyone forget that these are copper?). It must really stink for coin supply manufactures making storage devices for these things. The height of these new sets are significantly taller than last years so if you bought a storage box last year then get ready to buy a new one. (doh!)

The honors of the 101st listing goes to the Native Indian Dollar authored by one of the sites administrators, GregA. Over the last two years the site has been rapidly expanding and as of this writing now consists of 101 coin descriptions as well as 48 articles, Forums & News Feeds.

Access to the site is completely free. There are no special member areas or "pay to access" areas. As a site created by collectors it exists to serve collectors, there is no profit involved. Annual & monthly fees to keep the site running are paid for by small advertisements which ensure the existence of the site for years to come. Anyone interested in contributing or donating content can join the site through a simple and painless registering process.

On a personal note, a special shout goes out to GregA for having the honors of this moment. As the main site administrator, I can't thank Greg enough for his contributions and involvement on this site.

New Pages

Created a couple of new pages for folks, the first is Current Metal Prices & Currency Calculators. This is a neat little page that displays current precious & base metals, watch those nickel prices:). Also added 2 cool google widgets for our users, a currency converter and an inflation calculator for anyone wondering how much purchasing power had. I played with this by plugging in a 1941 Walking Liberty Half and it returned a value of $7.32 in 2008 dollars.

The second page was for Coin Storage. This is part of our collector learning series which has been on the back burner for a bit. The next planned page to create for this series is for the topic of Coin Handling

New Coins

Website maintenance isn't the only thing I do and of course I bought more coins (yes!). My goal for a 20th Century Canadian set continues on as I grabbed 3 different George VI 5 cent coins. Already posted a page on these so I'll work on pics next,

Another purchase I couldn't help myself with was a 1947 Philippine 50 Centavo General MacArthur commemorative. Probably overpaid by a $1 or $2 but it was in great shape and what really got my juices flowing was the subject of MacArthur himself and all of the soap opera moments with President Truman, Congress, WWII, & the Korean War. Yep…just had to have it ;)

Anyone that used to frequent the PCGS CoinFacts.com site there is some bad news. The pages have become static and will no longer be updated. Instead they now offer a new version (that will be regularly updated supposedly) but you have to pay $9.95 a month.

The demise of a yet another free site is slowly shrinking collectors on-line resources for coins. Rest assured that Typesets.Wikidot.com will remain free and be continuously updated. In another two months our site will be three years old and while that sounds young it's fairly old in the on-line world where sites are born and routinely abandoned within 12 months.

The good - small, light, cheap, and long battery life
The bad - windows vista, and I ran out of cash to buy MS Office so I'm going it with just OpenOffice

Well, enough of that lets move onto the good stuff…coins :)

I've heard lots of banter lately over whether or not certain U.S. denominations should be eliminated (like the cent) or if coin compositions should change. So here are my opinions on this:

Regardless of what some people may say coins have no purchasing power thanks to inflation. We use a decimal monetary system so the primary purpose of coins is to complete a decimal cash transaction for retail. In this light, it shouldn't matter what the composition of coins are as long as they are cheap enough to make and serve their function in life. If anything we may want some funky denominations to make decimal transactions easier so less coins are required, how about a 75 cent coin? Long story short…coins are good and we should keep them!

What really mucks with our government decision making for coins are special interests groups, in particular the vending industry. Yes they fight to keep coins (which is good) but they fight any change in weight, size, or denomination (which is bad) because they do not want to modify their machines that take coins. This drove me nuts last weekend as I went to a self car wash that cost $4 but they only took quarters (argh). After my wonderful car wash experience my son wanted something out of a nearby vending machine and with a dollar in quarters left over I figured why not. The only thing less than a $1.25 was a pack of gum and of course I used my last singles on the darn car wash change maker leaving only a $10 bill in my wallet. In the end we walked away with nothing and stopped at a corner store. Why can't these machines take larger bills!!!

Another argument I hear is that toll booths need coins at their current composition & weight so as not to change their equipment. I don't know if anyone has driven on a highway lately but most states are putting in those electronic EZ-pass detectors. Coming back on from Massachusetts there were 4 toll lanes open with three for EZ-pass and only one for cash (guess which lane I was stuck waiting in)! So this argument holds no weight (joke intended).

My final opinion…coins good, lots of denominations good, composition (or weight) change good!

Anyway, thanks for hosting the site.

VSE WAREHOUSE
6681 RIVER RUN ROAD
RIVERSIDE, CA 92507
REGISTRATION AT 8:00 A.M. AUCTION STARTS AT 9:00 A.M.

Lots of raw silver rounds, bars, some foreign bullion, proof sets, & some proof coins. Additional info can be found at http://www.treas.gov/auctions/treasury/gp/riverside_coins.shtml

Here are some pics

For an annual fee the banners can be removed but at this point it's not about money but about principle as the hosting company is barely a reflection of what it originally was when this site started almost 3 years ago.

Again my apologies

When I first started this blog I just finished a U.S. type set and started working on a "Family Heritage" type set. Well that set was completed a few months back and I was contemplating on starting a 20th Century Canadian type set.

Now glad to report I'm fully engaged! I'm only 3 coins away from completing one cent coins with major varieties and ready to move onto 5 cent coins.

Being 20th century issues I thought this would be quick, easy, and cheap. Turns out I was wrong. Yes it's been somewhat affordable but far from easy. The most difficult thing I discovered was getting decent quality modern coins (from 1950 on).

Most dealers don't stock individual common modern "foreign" coins as the cost to store versus sale value/demand just is not worth their time and since U.S. banks don't have Canadian coinage I couldn't even roll hunt. The only outlet was the internet and I probably overpaid but it was worth the convenience. Even on-line it was tough but with a little persistence something eventually popped up. This really shocked me as I thought the challenge would be early coinage (1901 to 1940) and silver dollars.

Oh well, another lesson learned

_{BU One Cent Coins I Still Need:}

• 1 from 1980-1981
• 1 from 1997 to 2000
• 1 1999 "P" issue

With so many avenues to purchase a coin I was thinking maybe a good service to provide is a page on how to buy coins on-line. I'm not an attorney or a member of the FTC with full knowledge of buyers rights so it will definitely have to be a page that grows overtime. I'll investigate further if this is worthwhile pursuing but if anyone has another idea I'm open to any ideas.

-Ken

Not much time for coins but somehow as collectors we still sneak in a little time here and there. For me it was circulating coinage. To kick-off the month I was happy to get my first 2009 coins in some change, a dime and a new Lincoln penny.

Typically in my area, new coinage usually starts to circulate around May so it's about 2 months off of the normal cycle. Considering the recent coin stoppage of nickels & dimes, I was pleasantly surprised with the dime. Though not ultra rare I didn't expect to find one so quick. With summer upon us I'll let this little ten cent piece find be the pride of my collection for a month or so.

Ahhh summertime, it's amazing how little things just make your day :)))

I've been a member of auction site Wensy.com since shortly after it's launch in 2007 but have never purchased a single coin till today. It wasn't a steal but simply a nice borderline VF coin from Chile that was priced around book value. With their coin inventory at almost 12,000 listings, my passing fancy of just watching has turned into one of general interest as a possible coin purchasing outlet.

Wensy is a completely free site born out of the failure of Yahoo auctions and subsequently picked up a decent percentage of yahoo auction sellers. I've kept an eye on the site over the last year and a half to see where it was going and who was advertising. As expected, many of the over-graders from the old Yahoo transferred accounts and exist there today but there are on occasion some hidden gems. Some sellers you may recognize as they utilize both E-Bay & Wensy to hawk their goods.

Wensy's purpose in life is not to compete with e-bay but to provide a low cost auction solution for sellers/buyers. Born out of the frustrations of originator Darren Bock, Wensy is basically a home grown & operated site with a lot of personal interaction from the site owners. Being small they don't have the huge overhead & support staff of e-bay and simply deploy a "Strike and you are out" attitude.

For buyers it's a two strikes and you (and your IP address) are blocked from entering the site ever again. For sellers it's a three strikes and you are out with the same penalty.

The Good

Purchasing the coin was fairly simple and most sellers accept multiple payment options including Paypal & Google Checkout which is a nice change from E-Bay. One possible thing I haven't tried is since there are so few members, in relation to overall supply, many auctions go unclaimed. If some coins are just sitting there for weeks on end with no nibbles then there maybe an e-mail & best offer opportunity to buy it below the auction price.

The Bad

Overgrading & Overpricing!!! Here's an example:

Advertised listing for a 1911D Barber Half as Fine+ for $55. Current trends for this coin in VG8 are $17 while a grade of F12 is $45. After looking at the pics, I would have graded this in the upper levels of VG (VG10) with some Fine details for a grade of VG10+ and a reasonable price would have been in the $25 to $30 range. Unfortunately, this seller's overgrading & overpricing are consistent.

Opportunity?

I really like the site & potential yet at the same time hate to see new collectors overpay & get soured on the hobby. Small auction sites have few (if any) external (third party) blog sites or tools to help buyers like we have with e-bay.

Maybe we can use this site? Question is how or if anyone is really interested? What would folks like to see? I don't want anything that only rips it a proverbial new one but to help promote it as another resource for collectors while providing buyers with a helpful resource. I may be the only person concerned so maybe I'm just dreaming but if folks are interested I am open to using this site.

Don't Get Confused with E-bay

E-bay is a money making machine and is geared towards sellers and commissions so it has every vested interest to quickly move auctions in high volume regardless of quality of sale. Essentially this is their business model for making money.

This type of auction site is great if you have a steady stream of product and you can easily justify any fees in replace of any marketing you would have done if you were a private company.

The Wensy site is really catering to the low volume sellers. These are folks who occasionally sell things or simply have a smaller supply of product and cannot afford the continuous levels of fees (remember Wensy is completely free). It's also a low cost, get your feet wet kind of thing for a small business. Essentially you get a free website via a store front and your administrative duties are managed for free (you don't have to pay your kids, niece or nephew to man a phone and take orders).

The only downside is advertising as Wensy is not a business model but a service provider and they are doing exactly that providing a free service. Since no revenue is being generated by the site (except for some pittance of google adwords and the occasional generous donation), most site maintenance is focused on…duh…service! But isn't this what being a small business or entrepreneur should be embracing? Absolutely, Wensy is not responsible for my business but simply a service (and to some extent providing you with free IT support). As a business owner it should be my creative juices that solve the advertising gap and if Wensy comes along with a feature that helps then great and all the better.

In the end you cannot compare E-bay to Wensy! It's apples to oranges, business vs. service, you get the point.

ok….starting to ramble a tad, time to search some more auctions :)

I've pulled together a few hundred dollars with an itching desire or is that desires. The choices at my door are….

1. Two elusive coins
2. A new netbook so I can work on this site while on the go
3. A new smaller digital camera (again for something on the go)

There's no easy answer here. The two coins while not super expensive they are a pain to find but will eventually become available for sale at a later time.
The netbook is a nice convenience but I can still maintain the site from my desktop computer.
The small digital camera would come in handy and I'd have enough money left over for a nice coin. But I do have a fantastic camera set-up at home so there is a fallback plan.

A few years ago the choices would have been easy…pay cash for one and put the other stuff on credit. Ah but how things have changed. Large purchases need to be strategic. To put my collecting needs before my families is irresponsible.

Unfortunately with this post I still have not made a decision. But, I have chosen to blog about my dilemma so that others can understand that a hobby is just a hobby and to let the expenses of such interfere with life is risky. Balance between personnel enjoyment and responsibilities is something we must all come to terms with when collecting. We all would love to have everything now (who wouldn't) but the most important thing to remember with collecting coins is that they will always be there tomorrow so the opportunity will come again.

Based on the dramatic drop in overall mintages, 2009 is shaping up to be a key or semi-key year for all denominations. For collectors, this will add a little excitement to issues targeted for circulation as they keep an eye out for BU coins from banks or in pocket change.

From an economy health view this is not a pretty picture. A lack of coinage demand (especially dimes) is a reflection of people turning in coins to banks at a much higher rate, thus keeping more than enough coins available for business transactions. The economy is fragile enough where people are no longer taking loose change for granted. If this is any kind of early indicator then it may be more than a year before things start looking up.

I can honestly report that I took my best first shot and cavalieri….your list is available :))) be sure to check out the ships link.

When it comes to the "blue collar collector", basically folks that routinely buy coins in the $20 to $100 range, they sometimes get forgotten in the world of high priced rarities and all of the talk that goes with it. But I have to tip my hat to the editors at Coin Values!

In their June 2009 issue they dedicated the main article to coins for $100 or less by Al Doyle. I usually have my doubts when I read these articles as they tend to hawk dealer stock for coins that no one really wants, not the case here!

Though limited to just U.S. coins, the article did a fantastic job of visiting and recognizing value in almost all major coin series including 19th century issues of half cents, half dimes, trimes, and nickel 3 cents. From sleepers to fan favorites there was a little of something for everyone.

The only area lacking that I would have enjoyed would have been some recommendations on commemorative pieces. Don't get me wrong I still loved the article. And I'm sure smaller coin dealers across the nation also cheered as many of their clientele probably fall into the $20 to $500 spending range and this article just helps their customer base.

Anyone with a small budget I highly recommend you grab a copy from your local newsstand before next months issue arrives, you won't regret it :))

Thanks for your patience,
Ken

Single coin .40
One Roll - $6
Two Rolls - $13
$25 Box - $320

Huge mintage figures aside, first year type coins very rarely goes up in value. Typically, new designs are hoarded by both collectors and non-collectors alike which ensures many uncirculated examples are available for future collectors.

Of coarse the U.S. Mint can't be left out in the cold, so if you think you are going to get a better deal with the Mint think again as a two roll set will set you back $8.95. That's a 795% profit for the Mint surpassing any other rolled coin by a huge amount.

I realize prices won't break the old wallet but I think I'll just wait to get one from my local bank for a whopping price of (you guessed it) one cent :)

The answer lies in it's usefulness with respect to purchasing power. To support this position let's begin with 1945 (hey day of half dollars in circulation). With a little help from the site "Measuring Worth" we have calculated the purchasing power of the half dollar into 2008 dollars.

In a matter of just 40 years, the purchasing power decreased by 83%. Given the rapid decrease and throw in it's large size (30mm) it's suddenly not hard to see why average Americans abandoned the half dollar. Is the solution to increase the denomination? It's hard to believe that the 1, 5, or 10 dollar bills will be eliminated anytime soon so this collector firmly believes we will never see a 30mm size coin in circulation in our lifetime.

If unchanged, 2008 will by far be the lowest mintage for the entire Kennedy series. Collectors are already talking about the possibility of 2008 being the key to the series. But will it carry a hefty price premium like some hope?

The answer to this question is…probably not. Kennedy halves have not been issued for general circulation since 2002. This means that most of the 3.4 million coins are either in the hands of collectors or dealers and in a condition of BU. That's quite a few coins available to collectors. Does this mean that they are worthless?

Absolutely NOT! The low mintage will more than likely garner a small price premium over other Kennedy issues, just not enough to retire on :) On the other hand, quite a few coins have been altered to add an image of President Obama making them worthless so maybe 3.4 million might be an over estimate. To be on the safe side this collector picked up a couple of coins just in case.

ISBN: 0-668-04765-8

Price: Currently out of print
Overall Rating: 5 out of 5
Coin Photos: 4 out of 5 (Black & White only)
Coin History/Summary: 5 out of 5
Contextual History: 5 out of 5
Contextual Photos: 4 out of 5
Paragraph/Chapter Flow: 5 out of 5

Summary:
Copy written and published in 1981 this volume won the Numismatic Literary Guild “Book of the Year” Award in the year it was released. Written by Walter Breen one of the foremost coin scholars of the 20th century and Anthony Swiatek know as “Mr. Commemorative”, this is THE definitive book on the “Classic” Commemorative series.

Commemoratives of this era are an extremely complex subject; witness the page and half discussion that covers the authors choice of presentation order provided in the introductory section. (They finally decided on Alphabetical based on the Official Name of the coin as contained in the Congressional Act that authorized the issue). After 12 pages of introduction that includes a discussion on the Commemorative concept and the previously mentioned discussion of choice of presentation order, they provide a complete list of authorization dates, followed by a comprehensive list of release dates cross referenced by Mint.

Chapter by chapter the book covers each coin in detail. The discussion, in a light and friendly style hits all of the important points on each issue including the background of the issue; What political forces were brought to bear to get the coin authorized; How designs were chosen; designers; engravers and how the coins were distributed. In addition, there are pictures of the various presentation material (holder, folders, boxes etc) that were used to distribute the coins as well as copies or pictures of correspondence relevant to the authorization process or issue. They go on to add many other tidbits and items of interest. The book is a rich source of history and information, from the subterfuge that allowed Col. James Ellsworth to keep the first Columbia Exposition Half, even though it had been sold to the Remington Typewriter Company for the astronomical price of $10,000 (he slipped a flawed Planchet into the press and declared the first strike unsuitable for presentation, then kept it) to the Politics of issuing the Washington-Carver commemorative in an attempt to make up for the financial losses experienced by the Booker T. Washington issue. Each chapter tells the unique story of each coin.

After they discuss each coin in detail they dedicate a few pages to the discussion of the “Excessively Rare Proof Commemorative Coinage” including Mintages and surface finish types. Then the book devotes almost 50 pages to a chapter on “Investment Forecast”. The first 10 pages are written by guest writer Mr. Stanley Apfelbaum and the balance by Mr. Swiatek, presumably based on his active participation in the Commemorative market. This section includes an issue by issue analysis of price, Value and a projection of price in 1985 & 1990 (5 & 10 years after publication). It would be interesting to compare their projections to actual prices realized 18 years ago!

The final 29 pages of the book are an issue by issue explanation of the grading keys for each series including a photo that shows exactly were one would expect to see the first signs of wear.

In all this large volume (over 300 pages in an 8 ½” x 11” format) is a must have for any serious collector of “Classic Commemoratives”

ISBN-10: 0306815788
ISBN-13: 978-0306815782

Price: $16.50
Overall Rating 5 out of 5
Coin Photos – 2.5 out of 5 (all line drawings)
Coin History/Summary – 5 out of 5
Contextual History – 4 out of 5
Contextual Photos – 2 out of 5
Paragraph/Chapter Flow: 5 out of 5

This is a great little book. The easy to read format
includes 3-5 pages in each chapter devoted to the individual quarters in the order they were issued. Discussions range from the basis of the design to the politics of the selection process to a short dose of history associated with the major design elements.

Not necessarily a great book from the collectors view point (no discussion of relative mintages or branch mint production, or mint errors), but still a fun read and a great gift type book for anyone interested in US history, or US Coins

Price: $25
Overall Rating 4 out of 5
Coin Photos – 3.5 out of 5
Coin History/Summary – 5 out of 5
Contextual History – 4 out of 5
Contextual Photos – 4.5 out of 5
Paragraph/Chapter Flow: 4.5 out of 5

Summary:
This book is not for kids. It reads like a High School or College level history text book, minus the end of chapter summary questions. It's the type of book I'd expect to see for a class labeled "An Introduction to Coinage and Numismatic History" and would recommend this for new collectors starting around the age of 15 or older.

Being like a school textbook is not a bad thing. Each chapter flows based on a time period perspective and makes for a simple and easy read.

Though the first section is labeled "A Guide to Collecting Coins" it really consists of two parts; a history of coinage and a how to collect part. This first section is really the strength of the book. The first part begins with the concept of money and its origination from barter systems and progresses through early currencies to trade currencies and discusses their needs & impacts on societies and cultures. It the follows up with production methods and again is approached from a time perspective beginning with ancient hammered coinage methods & materials and ending with modern minting methods.

The second part of the first section is the "how to collect" piece. Though it speaks in general terms, the author does a fine job of covering a wide amount of topics without making it seem random or chaotic. In summary there are pages dedicated to

• grade & condition
• caring for coins
• housing coins
• using guides & catalogs
• 11 general methods & approaches to collecting collecting coins
• buying and selling coins
• on-line numismatics

The second section is labeled "World Directory of Coins" but in reality it is a quick coinage synopsis for 200 different countries. Though each summary is interesting it will nit be a definitive resource for making coin purchases but it may spark an interest to collect coins from a specific country. Additionally, there is a warning with this section of the book. I have found errors in some of the descriptions so if you plan on using the information I recommend you validate the information before use. For example, in his write up on Panama he claims that the coin labeled the "Panama Pill" is a 2 centismo coin when in fact it is a 2 1/2 centismo coin.
Another example I found is with his summary of Sri Lanka, the 1/3 Farthing did not circulate in Sri Lank as he states.

Overall the book is a fantastic read for a new collector. It strength lies in its basic layout and generous use of color photos and sketches. One thing I did like was that many of the coin photos were of circulated issues and not some unobtainium grade of ultra rare coins that many other books use. The coin photos portray the reality of what beginning coin collectors are more than likely to obtain. Though, I do wish that the smaller diameter coins had larger photos as they were a little difficult to view.

My wife in her sweet way attempts to buy me something coin related each year and typically it's a so-so product but I really do love the effort she puts in with making such an attempt at a hobby she has no interest in whatsoever. For example, last year she gave me a book called "World Coins & Currency: Warman's Companion" This was the most worthless thing I've ever seen printed. It was so bad that I couldn't even leave a review here on the site.

But this year she hit the mark! As the wrapping paper fell to the floor that Christmas morn I was mildly surprised to receive a copy of Dr. James Mackay's "The World of Coins and Coin Collecting" book as a gift.

Though I haven't finished reading it yet, I did do a quick flip and it instantly caught my attention. I'm actually excited to have another book to read so this was a great gift receiving Christmas :)) When I'm done I'll be sure to post a review in the forums.

Happy Holidays! I wish everyone the best and want to take the time to thank everyone for their patronage & help.

This month also represents our 2nd anniversary and it has been a great year. It's really amazing as I did not believe the site would last for six months and here we are getting ready to start our 3rd year.

2008 was a great year for our site. We've added a lot of content and had some great contributions from our members. To date the site now has:

• More than 20,000 visits
• Type Set Lists from 13 different countries
• 7 Theme Set Lists
• 79 Different Coin Descriptions
• 5 Different Coin Inventory templates
• 9 Various Articles, and
• A Special Web Browser Toolbar

A special thanks to members GregA, enebyberg, and golfsferr for their contributions throughout the year.

For 2009 I don't plan on sitting back :) my goals for the site are:

• The addition of 60 new coin descriptions
• New type set lists from 7 different countries
• The development of a database inventory tool (something other than a spreadsheet:))

Well, that's it folks and again have a great holiday and I look forward to hearing from everyone throughout the year.

Regards & Best Wishes
Ken

This is a real cool feature that I'm thrilled to bring to all of out loyal site visitors and here is a summary of features:

• Google Search window
• Quick links to your favorite wikidot pages
• Quick links to Coin Mint Sites & Ebay Coins
• E-mail notification that you can sync up with your gmail, yahoo, hotmail, or any POP3 accounts
• A "To-Do" gadget that lets you store notes and quickly retrieve without leaving your web browser window
• A "Calculator" gadget without leaving your web browser window
• A "Weather" gadget that you can customize to your own location

For me personally it's a brand new item so I'm open to any changes folks would like to see so feel free to drop me a line.

Regards, Ken

P.S. ~~ I really love the "To-Do" gadget!!!

Personally I'm using this time to focus on some low cost or no cost activities to keep the flame burning.

1. Cleaning up the old collection - It's amazing, I liked to think I'm a focused collector but over the last couple of years I've picked up enough odd coins that there is a considerable amount of coins sitting all over the place. I have pulled these all together and made three piles: 1.) Unique coins that I'll put into their own albums, 2.) Potential investment coins that I'll put in my safety deposit box (I never keep expensive coins at my home), and 3.) coins that just don't fit in that I'll use for trade or sell.

Another thing to do is to inspect coin holders. How many need to be changed out? Are coins improperly toning. One thing I decided to do was to use my label maker and add labels to my cardboard holders. This actually worked out better than I thought so I'll defintely be playing with this for a while.

2. Planning and Budgeting - As long as I have at least a spare dollar then I have money to buy a coin. With limited funds, I'm using this time to layout what, how, and when to buy coins. One set I have only needs two coins to complete but those last two coins cost $150 each, I decided to place these on hold and start a new set so I began planning a Canadian type set. You can actually pick up quite a few early 20th century coins for less than $5 each and some such as large cents are as affordable as $1.50.

3. Working on this Website - Not stopping at coin shops, shows or even browsing online purchases has left me with some extra time which I can spend cleaning up this site. I started working on the coin library again by adding mintage tables (through 2007) and my goal is to have all circulating U.S. coins completed by the end of the year with descriptions, mintages, and photos. This stuff definitely keeps the collector fire burning even though I can't buy all that much.

So now my time is all filled with enough to keep me interested in the hobby and to keep this blog a roll-in…till next time :))

I actually work full time and as some know I have a family and the site is a part-time passion. Unfortunately work has been kicking my butt taking away time from my sharing here at the site. Hopefully things will change shortly.

Rest assured my collecting has not taken a vacation. With only 3 Russian coins left to complete a set I decided to start a second set and have begun a 20th century Canadian type set. This will be my largest type set to date (approximately 163 coins). I've already picked up three coins for the set so this may take some time.

For those interested on where my son is, he continues his collecting of the occasional coin but prefers tokens as he bought another one yesterday. I bought him a Harris 60 pocket coin wallet to house his 2x2's and I had to admit they are pretty handy so I picked up a few for myself.

That's a quick update for now as I have to get ready for work.

Sounds like an easy task but I was actually hard pressed to find examples of pre-communist Russia. I visited a total of 6 tables that I knew carried a wide assortment of world coins. All that was available was about two dozen common copper coins (which I already had) and silver coinage (regardless of condition) only yielded 6 examples with the lowest priced at $150 which was out of my price range. There were quite a bit of gold coins but since my collection does not include gold coins I passed them over.

As I spoke to the dealers, all 6 confirmed that they have had a hard time keeping Russian coinage in stock and demand has driven up the prices in almost all grades. I've heard stories that Russian coinage was hot but I've always been able to find what I wanted so I figured it to be localized to Europe….apparently not.

As tough as it was, I was still determined to go home with a coin so I reverted to my last option…rummaging through the bargain bins. After two hours of moving from table to table and searching what felt like an endless flow of coins in 2x2 holders my persistence paid off. I found an 1897 50 Kopek coin in a grade of Fine for $9, not perfect but it had more than enough detail to fit into my type set. It's hard to believe but it was the only silver Russian coin I could find for under $100. I don't mind the prices going up but I typically collect coins in grades ranging from VF to XF and to find no examples in this grade range was a lot tougher than I thought. Looks like this set is going to take a little while longer :(

If I get a chance later this week I'll post a pic.

^{What I still need: 1/4 & 25 kopek coins, and a 1 rouble coin.}

Greg Adams

I wonder if the Mint plans on doing something special?

For those not familiar with what I'm referring to, mint sets from 1947 to 1958 were issued as double sets (2 Phily, 2 Denver). 1959 marked the first year the Mint issued a single set (1 Phily, 1 Denver).

In my personal collection I have every year of the single sets except 1959 & 1961. Hmmm, just to be safe maybe I should pick these up at today's prices in case the Mint does something funky that drives up prices on older sets next year.

Lately though, they are in marketing over-drive saturating the market with special packaging of coins and as a collector I've finally hit my limits. It was bad enough with multiple finishes unc, satin finish, proof, and burnished coins now we are being bombarded with special coin packaging sets. For just the Presidential Dollar series here are your choices of sets:

Presidential $1 Coin Historical Signature Sets
Presidential $1 Coin Uncirculated Sets
Presidential $1 Coin Proof Set
United States Mint Annual Uncirculated Dollar Coin Set
United States Mint Uncirculated Coin Set
United States Mint Proof Set
United States Mint Silver Proof Set

What the..???? If the Mint spent as much time with actually creating attractive coin designs as they do with marketing we'd probably have some beautiful coins in circulation!

I'm pretty sure that these are the last of the ultra cheap coins. Another problem I'm running into seems to be availability here in the States. Looks like the last 7 coins will be a little tough in the date ranges I need but that's what makes this fun :))))

^{update to what I need (9/22)
What I still need: 1/4, & 25 kopek coins, and a 1/2 & 1 rouble coins.}

Luckily, I subscribe to an auto-ship program so I don't miss out. Anyway as I went to the site I saw that the 2008 sets were for sale but I did not get an e-mail from the U.S. Mint telling me.

Curious, I checked my account history on their site and noticed I was billed for a new set! Not a big deal as I buy the annual sets every year but would it be so hard to send out an e-mail notification? Even e-bay can do that!

The only problem is I know little of 19th century Russian coinage but again for a dollar how could I go wrong?

Update
Here's a little info I just received. The catalog number for the coin is Y#11.2 and had a mintage of 4.8 million. The value in a condition of VF ranges from $1.50 to $2.00 for choice VF. So it looks like a decent pick up.

That's the fourth Russian coin for my Family History type set so now I'm down to searching for 1/4, 1/2, 2, 15, 20, 25, & 50 kopek coins, and a 1/2 & 1 rouble coins.

Hungary is eliminating and withdrawing 1 and 2 forint coins from circulation including their 2008 issues so sets were limited to only 4,000 in unc and 4,000 in proof. These sets disappeared really fast from the Hungarian mint but I found a set for sale here in the U.S.

I have to admit that compared to the U.S. Mint, the condition of the coins was better than any current mint sets I've received here in the U.S. In fact, the Hungarian mint took such special care to the point where the coins are almost proof-like.

The article started off with collectors on a low budget and interviews with various dealers on what they deemed good buys. What was disappointing was that they assumed a low budget collector ALWAYS has a $100 in their pocket ready to spend on coins. This may have been true a few years ago but many collectors have reduced their budgets to more like $20 to $50 on a trip to a coin shop, show or on-line auction and sometimes even less. And what about kids?

There is always talk in the hobby that there are not enough young people in the hobby and almost every article in any coin magazine typically talks to coins that no way in heck a kid could afford to buy. I really shouldn't be shocked by this as the articles have to reflect items that their advertisers are selling but a continuous flow of articles about coins you CANNOT afford can really discourage a kid or make them think that their collection is worthless. Alright, I said my piece on this so let's get back to the article.

As you read through the article, what you discover is that what dealers are recommending for a $100 budget is nothing except common year coins which they try to sell you on high grades as being a separator and very low grade common 1800's coins. Again nothing unique or special here for a collector that has only $20 or $30 dollars in their pocket. What about world coins you may ask? Nothing, nada, zip…it pretty much sounded like dealers were offering up ideas only on inventory that they can't normally move quickly.

Needless to say, the article got a little under my skin so I have some recommendations for collectors on a low budget:

• Late 19th and Early 20th century coins in a grade of Very Fine (VF) - at this grade you get the best balance between coin design and wear. I personally like any coin from 1901 to 1930.
• Unique Sub-varieties - Learn about a specific coin series and you'll discover over-looked varieties. Some coin series have die designs slightly modified over the series and many times these special varieties are rarely annotated by a dealer.
• Cherry Picking - For just under $30 you can pickup the latest copy of the Cherrypicker's Guide that will help you search for gems in many dealer junk bins.
• Roll Searching - Go to your local bank and buy a few rolls of your favorite coin and crack'em open for any hidden gems, error coins, or older coins.
• World Coins - A dealer near me sells 100 different world coins for $5. Granted it's all modern material but the designs, shapes, and compositions are different.

To prove this out I set out onto e-bay with a goal of not spending more than $10. I ended the search by picking up a 1901 Liberty Head Nickel in VF30 for $8.75. Most people not familiar with the series would call this a common year but it's not.

1901 was not just a transitional year for the new century but also a transitional year for the reverse design of the Liberty head nickel. Prior to 1901, nickels had a reverse design what was referred to as a high leaf variety (or reverse style c). Initially in 1901 nickels were coined with this design but in late 1901 reverse dies were modified where the leaf just above the left top of the "V" almost touches, this is referred to as a low leaf variety (or reverse style ca).

Reverse Style c - High Leaf	Reverse Style ca - Low Leaf

The coin I bought happened to be the low leaf variety so for just under $9 I now have a coin that looks good and has a unique annotation (low leaf variety) and the seller never mentioned the variety or knew this variety existed.

With such a good experience for just $10, now I'm on the hunt for a 1901 high leaf variety and I think I'll stay with this low $10 target :)))

Now that I had his interest, the next hard step was to begin the education. This is not as easy as it sounds. He just finished kindergarten so his skills are pretty limited so before we introduced the finer aspects of coins we had to hone some basic skills (like reading).

The first thing I had to teach him was the concept time. He had a very good concept of the present and future but the past (beyond a year) seemed like numbers to him and not years to him. To get over this, we started with the current year (2008) and we counted backwards to 1998 by which time he understood the concept of past years and how old 1912 vs. 2002 is.

The next step was teaching a little geography. Again we are dealing with a kindergartener so the concepts of continents, countries, states, and cities are confusing. Luckily I have a 5ft x 6ft world map that we could layout on the floor. I would sound out the words and he would find the country on the map and then place the coin on the map.

The last thing I worked on with him was asking what he liked about each coin. Sometimes he just liked how the letters on a reverse were displayed and others were for their designs. I did this for two reasons.

The first reason was to figure out what he would like to collect and the second reason was to get him interested in a specific series or collecting habit. As it turns out, he likes variety and wants different types (like father like son) but he also wants to specialize in one series. At the coin show he picked up an old Pennsylvania bus token and it turns out he is just fascinated by it. So in addition to a type set, he wants to buy as many transit tokens he can get.

I'll be honest, this caught me off-guard as I have never collected tokens so it looks like I'll need to get educated on the subject pronto so he or I do not make any mistakes. Personally I can't complain, I hoped my son would get into collecting and he did. It was just a little different than Dad and that's probably a good thing :)

I could add gold coins but that's a pretty expensive option. Stumped, I put the set aside and decided to pick up an old project I put aside years ago and revisited my work on a family tree (genealogy). As I was doing some research on my grandfather and his birthplace, Poland, an idea struck me upside the head. Why not combine my genealogy work with coin collecting!

This was a perfect solution and I decided to put together a type set of coins based on my entire Families heritage. I already had a head start with my U.S. 20th Century type set and this provided a neat way to expand the set and at the same time make I'd be making a family heirloom that I can hand down to my son who can continue expanding the set.

What I worked out is to have a story page about some one in my family followed by a page that describes what items were for sale during that period and then another page of the actual types of coins that would have been used to make a purchase.

So here I am, planning on expanding my set and since my grandfather was born in Poland during the 1880's it looks like I have my first stop. Poland during the 1880s was actually controlled by Russia and coinage during that time was Russian. Looks like I'm now on the hunt for a 1/4, 1/2, 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, & 50 kopek coins, and a 1/2 & 1 rouble coins for a total of 13 new coins.

I really think this is going to be something special and unique!

Came home from the coin show show and my son had a good time. There was a little ruckus when we got there (an obnoxious chap shouting and using some profanity). The show organizer felt bad that a 6 year old had to witness the incident so he gave my son a free fine 1936 Buffalo nickel and a free (used) Harco Coinmaster album to hold his coins (thank you Coin Superstore).

From there, I introduced my son to the bargain bins and let him dig in with a limit of $20. He gladly pulled up a seat and began the task of sorting through hundreds of 2x2's. After a little hard work he walked away with 1 bus token, 4 silver coins, 2 nickel coins, 2 large cents (foreign), & 3 copper/nickel coins Most of the coins were in decent shape with the oldest being a 1912 Canadian 5 cent coin. Amazingly, he gave me back $5 change and without any help from Dad I'd say he did pretty good for his first time out and his tastes were pretty varied so it will be really interesting to see where or what he'll settle into.

As for myself I only picked up three coins. The first was a Cuban coin I needed for a WWII type set (1 coin from every axis and allied nation) and now I only have one coin left to complete the set.

The second coin was a beautifully toned 1909 Russian 10 Kopeks VF coin. It's for a new type set I'm working on where I'm combining my family tree info and coin collecting into one, I'll blog more about this later.

The third and last coin I didn't need but couldn't help myself. It is a VF silver 1904 Panama 2 1/2 centesimos coin (referred to as the Panama Pill). Once you see this coin you understand how it got it's nickname, with a diameter of only 10mm (4 mm smaller than the smallest U.S. coin a silver 3 cent coin) this coin is no larger than an aspirin. The unusual diminutive size was unique I just had to have one in my collection and it is now the smallest coin I own. To keep this in perspective, a U.S. cent is currently 19mm so this coins is almost half of that size.

Denmark
25 Ore - minting stopped as of October 1, 2008

Fiji
1 cent - minting stopped later in 2008
2 cent - minting stopped later in 2008

Hungary
1 forint - minting stopped as of March 2008
2 forint - minting stopped as of March 2008

Serbia
50 para - minting stopped as of 2008

United Arab Emirates
1 fil - minting stopped later in 2008
5 fil - minting stopped later in 2008
10 fil - minting stopped later in 2008

• Great Physicians of Austria series: 50 euro. Mintage limited to 50,000
• Jugendstil art series: 100 euro. Mintage limited to 30,000

Canada

• Simon Fraser Bicentennial: 100 Dollars. Mintage limited to 5,000
• Historical Commerce series: 200 Dollars. Mintage limited to 5,000
• Provincial Coat-of-Arms: Newfoundland & Labrador. 300 Dollars. Mintage limited to 5,000
• De Haviland Beaver: 50 cents. Mintage limited to 20,000
• Ottawa Mint Centennial: 500 dollar. Mintage limited to 250 (5 ounces of gold)
• Canadian Achievements, IMAX: 300 Dollars. Mintage limited to 1,000

China

• Beijing Olympic Games: Second series issue. 150 yuan. Mintage limited to 60,000
• Beijing Olympic Games: Second series issue. 2,000 yuan. Mintage limited to 2,008

Denmark

• International Polar Year, Sirius: 1,000 krone. Mintages limited to 6,000

Finland

• Centennial of Finnish Academy of Science & Letters: 5 euro. Mintages limited to 20,000 proof and 25,000 BU

France

• Renault formula one: 10 euro. Mintage limited to 500
• Year of the Rat: 10 euro. Mintage limited to 500
• European Parliament: 10 euro. Mintage limited to 3000
• 150 years of French-Japanese relations, Delacroix Painting: 10 euro. Mintage limited to 3000
• 150 years French-Japanese relations, Japanese Painting: 10 euro. Mintage limited to 3,000
• 150 years French-Japanese relations, Japanese Kanei Tsuho: 10 euro. Mintage limited to 3,000
• French Painters-Eduard Manet: 20 euro. Mintage limited to 500
• UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Grand Canyon: 10 Euro. Mintage limited to 500

Germany

• Lubeck: 100 euro. Mintage limited to 15,000

Ireland

• Skellig Michael: 20 euro. Mintage limited to 350,000

Israel

• Shmuel Yasef Agnon Israel nobel prize laureates: 10 new Sheqel. Mintage limited to 444
• 60th Anniversary, State of Israel: 10 new Sheqel. Mintage limited to 444

Italy

• Edvard Munch Scream: 50 euro. Mintage limited to 2,000
• Architect Andrea Palladio: 20 euro. Mintage limited to 4,500

New Zealand

• Sir Edmund Hillary: 10 dollar. Mintages limited to 1,953

Poland

• Polish Calvary series, 15th Century Armored Horseman: 20 zloty. Mintage limited to 9,900
• Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, 65th Anniversary: 2 zloty. Mintage limited to 1.75 million.
• Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, 65th Anniversary: 200 zloty. Mintage limited to 12,000.

Slovenia

• EU Presidency: 100 euro. Mintage limited to 5,000

Sweden

• Selma Lagerlof: 200 Francs. Mintage limited to 5,000

• Wild world of caucaus series: Armenian viper, trout, duck, and leopard. 100 Dram. Mintages limited to 3,000 each

Australia

• International Polar Year, Antarctic skua: 5 Dollars. Mintage limited to 12,500
• 30yr Anniversary, Northern Territory: 5 Dollars. Mintage limited to 12,500

Austria

• Abbeys of Austria series, Klosterneuberg: 10 euro. Mintage limited to 40,000
• Light; Silver & Nobium coin: 25 euro. Mintage limited to 65,000

Belgium

• The Blue Bird: 10 euro. Mintage limited to 20,000

Canada

• Quebec quadricentennial: 1 Dollar. Mintages limited to 65,000 proof and 35,000 BU
• Quebec quadricentennial with gold plating: 1 Dollar. Mintage limited to 60,000 proof sets
• Milk Delivery: 50 cents. (triangular coin) Mintage limited to 25,000
• Dinosaur Collection, Triceratops: 4 dollars. Mintage limited to 20,000
• Ottawa Mint Centennial: 50 cents. Mintage limited to 16,000
• Ottawa Mint Centennial: 1 dollar. Mintage limited to 25,000
• Vignettes of Royalty, Edward VII: 15 Dollars. Mintage limited to 10,000
• Colonial Playing Card Money, Jack of Hearts: 15 Dollars. Mintage limited to 25,000
• Royal Hudson Locomotive: 20 Dollars. Mintage limited to 10,000
• Colorized Crystal Raindrop: 20 Dollars. Mintage limited to 15,000
• Canadian Achievements, IMAX: 30 Dollars. Mintage limited to 15,000

Czech Republic

• National Technical Museum Centennial: 200 korun. Mintage limited to 15,000

Denmark

• International Polar Year, Sirius: 100 krone. Mintage limited to 50,000

Finland

• Finland's Flag 90 Years: 10 euro. Mintages limited to 25,000 proof and 9,000 BU

France

• Renault formula one: 1 1/2 euro. Mintage limited to 5,000
• Year of the Rat: 1/4 euro. Mintage limited to 10,000
• European Parliament: 1 1/2 euro. Mintage limited to 30,000
• 150 years French-Japanese relations, Delacroix Painting: 1 1/2 euro. Mintage limited to 5,000
• 150 years French-Japanese relations, Japanese Painting: 1 1/2 euro. Mintage limited to 5,000
• 150 years French-Japanese relations, Japanese Kanei Tsuho: 1 1/2 euro. Mintage limited to 5,000
• French Painters-Eduard Manet: 1/4 euro. Mintage limited to 10,000
• UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Grand Canyon: 1.5 euros. Mintage limited to 5,000

Germany

• 200th anniversary of birth of Carl Spitzweg: 10 Euro. Mintages limited to 260,000 proof and 1.5 million BU
• 150th anniversary of Max Planck birth: 10 euro. Mintages limited to 260,000 proof and 1.5 million BU
• Franz Kafka's 125 Birth Anniversary: 10 euro. Mintages limited to 260,000 proof and 1.5 million BU
• 50 years Gorch Fock Ship: 10 euro. Mintages limited to 260,000 proof and 1.5 million BU

Hungary

• 29th Olympiad, Beijing: 5,000 forint. Mintage limited to 14,000
• Hungarian Castles, Siklos Castle in Baranya: 5,000 forint. Mintage limited to 6,000

Ireland

• Skellig Michael: 10 euro. Mintage limited to 25,000

Israel

• Shmuel Yasef Agnon Israel nobel prize laureates: 1 new Sheqel. Mintage limited to 666
• Shmuel Yasef Agnon Israel nobel prize laureates: 2 new Sheqalim. Mintage limited to 666
• 60th Anniversary, State of Israel: 1 new Sheqel. Mintage limited to 1800
• 60th Anniversary, State of Israel: 2 new Sheqel. Mintage limited to 1800

Italy

• Italian Constitution 60th Anniversary: 5 euro. Mintage limited to 9,000
• Architect Andrea Palladio: 10 euro. Mintage limited to 21,000

New Zealand

• Sir Edmund Hillary: 1 dollar. Mintage limited to 10,000

Norway

• Poet Henrik Wergeland's Birth Bicentennial: 200 krone. Mintage limited to 40,000

Poland

• Polish Calvary series, 15th Century Armored Horseman: 10 Zloty. (square coin 22mm x 32mm) Mintage limited to 61,000
• Animals of the World series, Peregrine Falcon: 20 Zloty. Mintage limited to 107,000
• Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, 65th Anniversary: 20 Zloty. Mintage limited to 145,000

Russia

• 150th Anniversary, First Russian Postage Stamp: 3 ruble. Mintage limited to 8,000
• Architectural Monuments, Astrakhan Castle (Kremlin): 25 rubles. Mintage limited to 2,000

Slovenia

• EU Presidency: 30 euro. Mintage limited to 8,000

Spain

• War of Independence-Battle of Bailen: 10 euro. Mintage limited to 12,000
• War of Independence-Declaration of War: 10 euro. Mintage limited to 12,000
• War of Independence-Daoiz & Velarde: 10 euro. Mintage limited to 12,000
• War of Independence: 50 euro. Mintage limited to 5,000
• King Alfonso X: 10 euro. Mintage limited to 20,000
• Bicentennial, Spanish War of Independence: 10 euro. Mintage limited to 12,000

Sweden

• Selma Lagerlof: 200 Francs. Mintages limited to 50,000

Switzerland

• Ice Hockey: 20 Francs. Mintages limited to 7,000 proof and 50,000 BU

Thanks everyone for your support and patronage

An occasional one here or there usually doesn't get my attention but I've been getting them as change in almost every transaction. I even went on a business trip to the mid west (Kansas) and was getting the same thing in my change.

Seeing so many quarters has led me to a question, "Are State Quarters wearing thin?"

Are speculative collectors finally cashing in their uncirculated rolls of quarters now that they are discovering their collecting value is about face value? or are these simply rolls that the Fed are just releasing?

Not sure what the right answer is but I did find it interesting to note.

How many have seen a table on a website and attempt to copy & paste into excel? Many folks will attest that this is a pain as it brings in all the funky graphics, html links, or adds all the text to a single cell leaving you to spend even more time re-formating everything. There is an easier way to export it to excel if you are using Microsoft Explorer and here's how:

1. Simply hover your mouse over any table on a website
2. Right click your mouse and a submenu will appear
3. Near the bottom of the menu you will see "Export to Microsoft Excel" (click it)

That's it your done!

I followed the purchase up with Positive feedback rating and simply stated "Not all coins were unc but cannot complain for the price". The seller then followed up and realized they made a mistake and shipped the wrong set of coins and that my batch went to someone else. I told the seller it was no problem and not to worry about. But this seller REFUSED to leave me happy and was bent on making me an EXTREMELY PLEASED customer. The seller sent out an entirely new batch and I was even compensated xtra coins for the mistake!!! I was totally flabbergasted as I have never seen such customer service from any seller on e-bay and was so impressed that I just had to share my experience.

So if anyone has to deal with "jpotter81" I cannot repeat how great of a seller this person is and you will not be disappointed with their level of commitment to the customer!

-Ken

In order to make this work effectively you'll need to go into the "Tools" menu and select "Options". On the "View" tab make sure that the "Comment indicator only" radio button is selected and then press OK.

Start by selecting the cell and add a Comment (with no text). After adding a Cell Comment, right click in the cell and choose Edit comment. Now double click the dotted outline of the Comment where the size handles are, and then click the "Colors and Lines" page tab. From this page click the drop arrow from the "Color" box and then "Fill Effects" and finally "Picture" then "Select Picture".