Summer Swap received - Wow!!!

What a great present I received today!

I can't begin to say how stunned I am about the COMPLETE collection of
Franklin Halves that David Palmer graciously sent to me. They are all
beautiful high-grade coins, all thirty-six of which were thoughtfully placed
in a new Harris & Co. folder.

Many thanks again to Larry for organizing this highly entertaining event,
and thanks (again) Larry for picking my name out of the hat to receive the
swap from David. As soon as learned that I would be receiving from David I
knew that I would soon have something special to add to my collection. This
exceeded my grandest expectations.

David: As soon as I can catch my breath I will be emailing you a big
personal "Thank You" for making me the luckiest and proudest RCC swapper.

My best to all,

Kent

Kent G. Vestal, Jr. wrote:
What a great present I received today!

I can't begin to say how stunned I am about the COMPLETE collection of
Franklin Halves that David Palmer graciously sent to me. They are all
beautiful high-grade coins, all thirty-six of which were thoughtfully placed
in a new Harris & Co. folder.

Many thanks again to Larry for organizing this highly entertaining event,
and thanks (again) Larry for picking my name out of the hat to receive the
swap from David. As soon as learned that I would be receiving from David I
knew that I would soon have something special to add to my collection. This
exceeded my grandest expectations.

David: As soon as I can catch my breath I will be emailing you a big
personal "Thank You" for making me the luckiest and proudest RCC swapper.

My best to all,

Kent



PICS?!?!?!?

c'mon fellas...us lurkers wanna see the goods too!

On Thu, 4 Aug 2005 20:48:43 -0500, "Kent G. Vestal, Jr."
wrote:

What a great present I received today!

I can't begin to say how stunned I am about the COMPLETE collection of
Franklin Halves that David Palmer graciously sent to me. They are all
beautiful high-grade coins, all thirty-six of which were thoughtfully placed
in a new Harris & Co. folder.

Dang!

I missed the otion to check for "Complete Series"!

Maybe there are some new categories that could be added for next time:
Complete Series US 1791-1800
Complete Series US 1800-1850
Complete Series US 1851-1900
Complete Series US 1901-2000
Complete Series US Lincoln Cent, Winged Liberty Dime, etc

and for the really outrageous:
Complete Series US PCGS Registry Set Type

or
Dream Coins US Anaconda
Dream Coins US Ira

Thanks again Larry for organizing this thing!

Steve
Buy the book before the coin
don't forget to *READ* the book after you've bought it!
It doesn't do anything just sitting on the shelf

(remove ATTITUDE to reply via e-mail)

"Steve Ruud" dropped by to say:
Dang!

I missed the option to check for "Complete Series"!

Fear not, Steve! I've just modified the swap form so that highly motivated
swappers can check that option next time. ;-)

Larry
'swap form improvements spoken here!'

On Fri, 05 Aug 2005 11:16:03 GMT, "Larry Louks"
wrote:

"Steve Ruud" dropped by to say:
Dang!

I missed the option to check for "Complete Series"!

Fear not, Steve! I've just modified the swap form so that highly motivated
swappers can check that option next time. ;-)

I know you're being facetious, but I do have some suggestions for next
time around...

As spectacular and generous as that swap gift was, I have to wonder at
how appropriate it is to offer something that has got to be in the
region of $300+ in a ~$50 swap category. I wouldn't want to curtail
anyone's exuberance over participating in the RCC swaps, but it seems
to me that such gifts could become the source of jealousy on the part
of people who receive "lesser" gifts and also a source of hesitation
on the part of those of us who can't afford to give half so
magnificently as we might like!

While you're modifying the form, I'ld like to suggest that the section
asking what you'ld like to recieve be minimised considerably. The
original point of the swaps was to exhange gifts -- surprises! I've
found over the last couple swaps that many swappers are being
increasingly specific in their requests. (I also had one bad
experience a few years back where my partner didn't appreciate my
"surprise me" attitude and reluctance to be more specific.) I think
that if you have to be that specific, you can very easily find what
you want on Ebay.

Next time around, I think I'm just going to ignore the specific
requests and have fun chosing gifts rather than worry about having to
buy to someone's particular interests and requests and then worry
about whether or not it will meet expectations.

I'd also like to suggest that people who only want US coins NOT
participate in the "potpourri" categories. Yes potpourri can include
US coins -- as well as world, tokens, scrip, supplies, etc -- but it's
rather strange to get a potpourri swapper who basically doesn't want
any potpourri fodder!

Padraic.

Larry
'swap form improvements spoken here!'

la cieurgeourea provoer mal trasfu
ast meiyoer ke 'l andrext ben trasfu.

"Padraic Brown" offered some good food for thought with:
I know you're being facetious, but I do have some suggestions for next
time around...

I appreciate your feedback, Padraic, and have saved this info into a file. I
also have some suggestions for future swaps, and after this one is all said
and done, I intend to send out a note to the group of current swappers in
that regard.

Larry

"Padraic Brown" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 05 Aug 2005 11:16:03 GMT, "Larry Louks"
wrote:

"Steve Ruud" dropped by to say:
Dang!

I missed the option to check for "Complete Series"!

Fear not, Steve! I've just modified the swap form so that highly
motivated
swappers can check that option next time. ;-)

I know you're being facetious, but I do have some suggestions for next
time around...

As spectacular and generous as that swap gift was, I have to wonder at
how appropriate it is to offer something that has got to be in the
region of $300+ in a ~$50 swap category. I wouldn't want to curtail
anyone's exuberance over participating in the RCC swaps, but it seems
to me that such gifts could become the source of jealousy on the part
of people who receive "lesser" gifts and also a source of hesitation
on the part of those of us who can't afford to give half so
magnificently as we might like!

While you're modifying the form, I'ld like to suggest that the section
asking what you'ld like to recieve be minimised considerably. The
original point of the swaps was to exhange gifts -- surprises! I've
found over the last couple swaps that many swappers are being
increasingly specific in their requests. (I also had one bad
experience a few years back where my partner didn't appreciate my
"surprise me" attitude and reluctance to be more specific.) I think
that if you have to be that specific, you can very easily find what
you want on Ebay.

Next time around, I think I'm just going to ignore the specific
requests and have fun chosing gifts rather than worry about having to
buy to someone's particular interests and requests and then worry
about whether or not it will meet expectations.

I'd also like to suggest that people who only want US coins NOT
participate in the "potpourri" categories. Yes potpourri can include
US coins -- as well as world, tokens, scrip, supplies, etc -- but it's
rather strange to get a potpourri swapper who basically doesn't want
any potpourri fodder!

Padraic.

Larry
'swap form improvements spoken here!'

la cieurgeourea provoer mal trasfu
ast meiyoer ke 'l andrext ben trasfu.

I like the $50 and over as it is.
If you get good at it you can find and purchase coins that are 'worth' way
more than $50 for $50. You can cherry-pick rolls and dealers just as easy as
the rest of us can. That's the whole point of numismatics isn't it?

"Padraic Brown" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 05 Aug 2005 11:16:03 GMT, "Larry Louks"
wrote:

"Steve Ruud" dropped by to say:
Dang!

I missed the option to check for "Complete Series"!

Fear not, Steve! I've just modified the swap form so that highly motivated
swappers can check that option next time. ;-)

I know you're being facetious, but I do have some suggestions for next
time around...

As spectacular and generous as that swap gift was, I have to wonder at
how appropriate it is to offer something that has got to be in the
region of $300+ in a ~$50 swap category. I wouldn't want to curtail
anyone's exuberance over participating in the RCC swaps, but it seems
to me that such gifts could become the source of jealousy on the part
of people who receive "lesser" gifts and also a source of hesitation
on the part of those of us who can't afford to give half so
magnificently as we might like!

While you're modifying the form, I'ld like to suggest that the section
asking what you'ld like to recieve be minimised considerably. The
original point of the swaps was to exhange gifts -- surprises! I've
found over the last couple swaps that many swappers are being
increasingly specific in their requests. (I also had one bad
experience a few years back where my partner didn't appreciate my
"surprise me" attitude and reluctance to be more specific.) I think
that if you have to be that specific, you can very easily find what
you want on Ebay.

Next time around, I think I'm just going to ignore the specific
requests and have fun chosing gifts rather than worry about having to
buy to someone's particular interests and requests and then worry
about whether or not it will meet expectations.

I'd also like to suggest that people who only want US coins NOT
participate in the "potpourri" categories. Yes potpourri can include
US coins -- as well as world, tokens, scrip, supplies, etc -- but it's
rather strange to get a potpourri swapper who basically doesn't want
any potpourri fodder!

Padraic.

These are good points. I would rather receive a surprise swap gift of something
I wouldn't be apt to buy for myself. If I specialized in BU Franklins or early
MM Lincolns, I would probably have a pretty good collection of these already and
would be picky in what I chose for my collection in those particular series. It
would be unlikely that a swapper would send something that I need, so in that
light, I would prefer NOT to receive a coin in a series I specialize in.

I do agree that some swappers seem to have gone overboard in their generosity,
based on early returns here. In contrast, I would expect there will be no posts
expressing disappointment over swap items received. So it appears that everyone
must be trying to out-generous each other, hoping for a glowing review in an rcc
post. Nothing wrong with that, I guess, and it makes everyone anticipate the
next swap opportunity all the more.

Bruce

"Bruce Remick" dropped by and shared his thoughts:
I do agree that some swappers seem to have gone overboard in their
generosity,
based on early returns here.

Thanks for letting your feelings be known, Bruce. I must confess that in the
swaps that I've participated in, I don't recall ever having heard of a
"maximum" value for a gift being set forth, only the minimums that are in
place in THIS swap, and others like it in the past. If an individual has the
means, and desires to share whatever he has with another enthusiast in this
manner, I see nothing wrong with it. The randomness of the partner
assignments came from me assigning each participant a number, which I wrote
on a piece of paper, and then had my wife draw them out of a paper bag.
There's no question that some participants have received gifts that others
would like to have had, and might have had, had the drawing of the
assignments had been in a different order. But that thing called "chance" is
an integral part of an event such as this. So is "anticipation" and
"wonder", which none of us wants to be without.

Will some participants read of the reports here in RCC and think "Man, I
sure wish I had had THAT guy as my swap partner!" Perhaps so. I can only
speak for myself here, but I like the part of the swap form that allows me
to spell out what I would prefer not to receive. Why receive something that
I'm not at all interested in collecting when with a sentence or two in the
swap form, I can help to guide my sender's thoughts to something that is
more attuned to my collecting interests? I can still enjoy the "surprise"
factor in it all, while keeping things in the area of numismatics that
really turn me on...

In contrast, I would expect there will be no posts
expressing disappointment over swap items received.

I suspect that this will indeed be the case...

Larry