Saint Gaudens High Relief Double Eagle Gold Coin 1907.

The most beautiful Twenty Dollar gold piece ever minted by the United States was the Saint Gaudens Double Eagle.  The most amazing one was the High Relief one that was minted in 1907.  Now in 2009 the mint has again struck another High Relief Double Eagle that is based on the original Saint Gaudens design.

The coin shown below is an original one struck in 1907.

Coin in PCGS grading holder.

This is the reverse side of the coin with the Flying Eagle.

Note the Roman Numerals used for the date.

Detailed view of the reverse side of the coin with the Flying Eagle.

You can see the very high relief of the Eagle on this coin.

Note the Roman Numeral date and high relief details on the obverse side of the coin.

These coins can be purchased for prices ranging from about $7500.00 to as much as $10,000.00 in conditions that are still very good and not showing much wear at all.

This is a picture of the new Saint Gaudens Double Eagle that has been struck by the United States Mint.  We will feature this coin in another posting.

New 2009 Lincoln Pennies. They Are Rather Neat.

I remember back in 1959 when my Dad showed me the new Lincoln penny.  To me as a kid I remembered just how neat the new ones looked with the Lincoln Memorial on the reverse side of the coin.  I was only 8 years old at the time.  Now many years later we have four new Lincoln pennies for 2009.

Below are pictures of the new series of Lincoln coins.

This is my favorite showing the building of the United States Capitol.

This one shows Lincoln in his early life as a rail splitter.

This one shows Lincoln's cabin where he was born.

All of the new Lincoln pennies depict important events in Lincoln's life.

I have checked many times at the local banks and they do not have any of these new coins available.  If you are looking for them you can always try the store at the United States Mint.  They have a web site at http://www.usmint.gov/.

So keep your eyes open and check your change and maybe you will find one of the new Lincoln pennies.

The Official Count Down Timer To 12-21-2012

Many people think that something will happen on 12-21-2012.  Actually they believe that the world will come to some sort of a tragic end on that date.  What do you think?  The History Channel has run several programs on this subject.

So here is your "Official Countdown" timer so that you can make the appropriate plans for the end!





The Official Countdown

Making Your Own Watchmakers Screw Head Polishing Tool.

There are many different types of watchmaker's screw head finishing or polishing tools.  Some are designed to mount into an 8mm WW style lathe commonly used by watchmakers.  Some are made to be operated by hand while revolving both the screw and finishing wheel.  However, one of the most handy types can be made using the following instructions.  This one is made so that it can hold any size of lathe collet making it possible to polish any size screw head.

Diagram showing design details.

This shows the actual tool and a nice storage holder for it.

This shows the bottom of the tool with a collet holding a screw for polishing.

Another view of the bottom of the tool.  It is important that all three legs be of the same length otherwise the screw would not be level after polishing.

Part of the fun and enjoyment of watchmaking are the neat small tools that you get the opportunity to use almost on a daily basis.

We hope you take the time to make one of these and better yet we hope you actually put it to good use as there are many old pocket watches that have screws that are rusted or pitted.  Polishing them will help to make your watch look like new.

Post Office Badges As Collectibles. Uniform Shirt Badges.

Obsolete Post Office badges are very collectible items.

These early badges were most often worn by Letter Carriers and window clerks.  The obsolete badges were inlaid with blue fired enamel and came with a unique number at the top of the badge.  Also on the lower portion of the badge the city would also be embossed.

Some of these badges did not have the city listed but simply said "Employee."

The center of the badges always had the Pony Express rider.

The reverse side of the badges were also marked
as being U. S. Government Property.  If one was ever lost the finder could drop it into any mail box and it would be returned to the correct Post Office.

Reverse Side of Badge

Some versions of the badge simply showed the word "Employee" and the city and state were added to the center ring.  The Pony Express rider image changed a little on these versions.

As for values most of the time depending on the location of the Post Office these badges sell for between $75.00 and as much as $150.00.

Another type of Post Office badge are the ones used on hats.  We will show some of these in another posting about them.

Fires In Medford & Ashland, Oregon. 9-21-09

Today there were two major fires located in the Rogue Valley.  The first one was located in Ashland, Oregon just south of Medford.  Then at about 3:00PM another fire started burning in Medford, Oregon.  We were more aware of the Medford fire as we are located across the street from one of the Medford fire stations.  All of their trucks left and then we noticed more air tankers leaving the MFR airport.

To me it would appear that both of these fires were probably acts of arson as in all the years I have lived here I have never heard or seen two major fires in one day within only a few hours or each other.

As of now three television stations are off-the-air as well as two radio stations.  Also in the Medford fire there have been several explosions and there appears that several homes have been destroyed.

Many air tankers have been fighting the Medford fire and several spotter planes are also in the air.

Below are some pictures that I took of the Medford fire.  Look close as you can see the tankers dropping water on the flames.

View from about 1.5 miles away.

This photo taken about one mile from the fire in Medford across from the Rogue Valley Mall.

Wide angle view of Medford fire.

Picture shows fire that is about to destroy a few homes on the hillside.

If you look at the edge of the smoke on the right side you can see a tanker in the air.

View of fire from the parking lot at the Rogue Valley Mall.

Another view of the Medford fire that is located east of the Rogue Valley Mall.

It is now 5:15PM and the tankers are still in the air working to stop the fire.  The thick black smoke is getting much lighter in color.

Will keep you posted when we know more about the causes of these two fires.

eBay Has Started Its Top Rated Seller Program.

eBay has now started its so-called Top Rated Seller program.  How sweet is that?  Ever since eBay got joined at the hip with the morons that brought us DSR's or for those that don't know, Detailed Seller Reports, here is just another eBay mess based on those horrible DSR's.  I would imagine that the brain trust at eBay who are in a desperate battle to keep their jobs simply had to create something of value based on the unfair practice of DSR's.

Not only does eBay have their Power Seller program which is based totally on sales volumn but now here comes just another thing to take up screen space and auction space.  The large seal that is shown is displayed inside of a seller's auction or listing.  A much smaller version is seen when potential buyers are surfing eBay listings.

So does the new Top Seller program actually do anything at all?  We asked around and found out that most buyers pay no attention to these cute little impressive seals.  Buyers are searching for specific items of interest such as a certain year of a Morgan silver dollar.  When they find what they have been looking for it makes no difference to the buyer if the seller is "Top Rated" or not.  What the buyer wants is his item.  He is not buying from someone just for the honor of saying later that he bought his coin from an eBay Top Rated seller.  Buying from a Top Rated seller adds NO VALUE to the item purchased.

The other problem with the Top Rated seller program is the fact that it is based directly on the Detailed Seller Ratings.  Sellers have known from the very beginning of this flawed program and that it is totally unreliable at best.  A seller can do everything by-the-book and still get a low rating.  The reason is just simple human behavior.  Many buyers are very critical people and nothing a seller does will please them.  You could give them the moon-with-a-fence around it and they would still give a seller low marks which results a lowered eBay rating.  There are buyers that don't believe anyone deserves all high marks.  They believe everyone can still be better and that there is always room for improvment.  It's the buyers chance in life to be like a teacher grading some term paper.

A perfect example of this are those sellers that even get marked down on the price of shipping when all of their items come with FREE shipping.  Try and explain that one oh great and wonderful brains at eBay.

I think it is time that eBay does some real soul searching and goes back to the basics that made eBay what it once was.  None of these cute little eBay programs does anything for their bottom line.  Rather it hurts them and sellers alike.  Sellers are leaving eBay in record numbers due to eBay's constant changing of policies and rules and regulations.

eBay is a sinking ship and yet nobody at eBay seems to understand this.  Why you ask?  Because nobody who works for eBay has any experience being a seller and they can't relate to the hell eBay puts its sellers through.