Near Mint

Here are some more information for Near Mint:

There are a few ways you can get coins for your collection, you can buy them from a coin dealer, an auction on the internet, other sites on the internet, through the newspaper, television shopping shows or a friend.

Buying coins this way you will need to be knowledgeable, you need to understand coin grading, coin value and what third party grading (slabbed coins) is. One factor that affects all this is your desire to own that coin or series of coins.

Other ways you can get started is looking at your change, buying rolls of coins from banks and supermarkets at face value, use a metal detector on the beach, old trails and old foundations or parks. Back in the good old days banks were not as common as now and the depression era caused a lot of people to bury or hide their money near a land mark of some kind such as an old tree, in certain areas of a barn, loose bricks in a wall,etc.. Finding a coin this way makes it exciting to collect.

I still look at my loose change for coins that have errors on them caused in the making of that coin, some errors that are no longer available in loose change you may have heard of is the 1955 double die, the 1972 double die, and the 1995 double die. One of the more recent errors is the new Washington dollar coin. The U.S. Mint in it's production of some of these failed to stamp the information on the edge of the coin such as the mint mark, e pluribus unum, in god we trust, making these varieties more like a metal instead of a coin. When these were first discovered they were selling at $200 each.

One other way you can buy coins is from the United States Mint. They produce coins and sets every year, some go up in value others do not, but you can be assured they are real an 99.9% the grade they advertise it to be. You can visit their website or call and ask for a brochure.

To give you an idea of the coins the U.S. Mint sells, in 1995 the Mint was selling a 10th anniversary gold coin set for about $1000. In that set was a silver eagle dollar. It was the only way to get that silver eagle dollar. The set, last I checked, was selling for almost $6000. There are still values out there! Approximately 30,000 sets were sold, that is a low mintage set. The lower the mintage usually the more it's worth. Mintage means the number of coins the U.S. Mint made that year. For example the 2005D Lincoln penny had 3,764,450,000 pennies made from the Denver mint.

Bob has been an avid coin collector for many years. Having worked with many professional coin collectors as well as many private collectors he has learned many tricks and trade secrets.

Learn more about his collecting experience as well as his other interests here: http://www.whatitsworthnow.com/23-karat-gold-royal-stamps/

Grading Your Comic Books

Knowing the condition of your comic book will help in knowing the value of it. Grading your comic allows you to describe the condition that it is in, and there is a universal scale which is used. Grading your own comic is subjective. The Comics Guaranty Company, or CGC, can grade your comic for a fee. Doing this will provide a third party opinion and make the grade less subjective. They use the same scale as well so it’s not always necessary to pay them to do the grading for you.

The highest grade a comic can receive is mint. If a comic is in mint condition it should look like it just came off the press. For a comic to be in mint condition there can’t be any tears, cuts or creases. The comic should be able to lay flat on a surface without any rolling or curving of the pages. The spine has to be the same way, completely straight. The staples in the spine have to look new and can’t have any rusting or unusual bending. The pages of a mint condition comic can’t have any fading or discoloration, marks or smudges, and there can’t be any rips or tears. The only accepted marking on the comic allowed is an autograph. 

Not every comic can be perfect, and the next best grade it can receive is near mint. Older comics that are in near perfect condition usually receive this grade. Overall the comic should look like new, but there are a few exceptions allowed for this grade. If the cover is slightly off center it will be considered near mint. Other conditions that will give your comic a near mint grade are minor bindery tears and minor fading of the pages. All other aspects of the comic will have to be perfect.

If a comic has minor imperfections the grade usually given is very fine. Over time and use of the comic, it can be worn or damaged. However, to be graded very fine the comic can only have minor problems such as wear around the staples in the binding or a small crease on the cover. The color on the cover and pages can be slightly faded as well.

For comic books that are used and read, not just collected, the grade is usually fine. Because the comic has been open and read there are usually creases on the spine and pages. The staples can have some discoloration or show signs of unusual bending. Minor stains or tears to the pages will result in a comic being graded as fine. Fine graded comic books are above average in appearance.

The average comic book which has been read is graded as very good. A well read comic will have stress to the staples in the spine and obvious creases. The comic has to have all of the pages still intact as well. The cover and pages are allowed to have discoloration and fading, but there can’t be major tears. A small tear is allowed for this grade.

As comics start to lose value, and you can tell that they have been used and well read the grade given is either good or fair. The comic is worn down, has major defects, but it still readable. A good or fair grade will be given if the cover has been detached, has tears and creases along the cover and pages, the pages are marked or stained, and the spine is in bad condition. If pages are missing and the cover is gone the comic will be graded as poor.

About the Author

Krystle Green is a freelance writer. Mycomicshop.com is one of the largest retailers of comic books in the world. Mycomicshop is the online presence of Lone Star Comics, a leading retailer of comic books with seven stores in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. For more information please visit: www.mycomicshop.com .

How much should I expect to get on eBay for a Aug. 1947 National Geographic issue, near mint condition?

Appearantly not very much since there is one for sale on ebay right now for $7.99 (12.99 Buy It Now) and no one is bidding on it and only 5 have bothered to look at it.

Age is actually a poor consideration when people start to think about value. Is there something important, globally interesting, or special about this issue? If not, then its basically just paper. My suggestion is watch the current auction, then contact the winner of it and other bidders and let them know you have your own auction (contacting ebay members about private sales is against their rules of conduct, so put it up for auction if you choose this route).

Hansen, Petitclerc get party started
Canada kicked off another giant party Friday for the world's best athletes, hoping to reignite the sense of pride that stormed the country during the 2010 Olympics.

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