@COTY BlueSkyFarms

关于此套币: I recently started collecting as an adult (Sept 2020). It is an amazing hobby with so many different directions to go. As a child I focused mostly on collecting Jefferson nickels and resumed collecting with that focus. As I spent a lot of time learning more about coins and how they are made, one of the things I watched was a video on rare specimens. It was a museum tour and it was showing off coins worth 6 figures or more. Honestly at arms length I couldn't really relate. There was a wall full of coins and unless you know what you're looking at, they all look the same and it becomes meaningless. I didn't want to get that far down the rabbit hole. The Krause Publications COTY is so refreshing because the coins are all different and interesting. Each coin has its own story to weave. Some coins are common, and some are exceedingly rare. Some PCGS can't even encapsulate. It is an interesting journey and it's hard to believe I just started. I look forward to the hunt for several more years. Kudos to Brandywine for becoming the goto reference on what it is that I'm looking for often having more/better information than what PCGS provides. The other observation is that US Coins "enjoy" so much competition. With COTY, you're blazing new trails or trodding ones few have dared before you. Or to say it a different way, some of the coins are very inexpensive, but finding good ones, is as always, the challenge.

It's important to acknowledge that when I first started, looking I was having a hard time just finding coins and if I found anything I was excited and tried to buy it. Over time my search skills improved and my focus shifted to buying rare coins or coins where existing specimens have a relatively low grade. Eventually, I decided to try and get one coin from every country in the list first, then go back and start getting the additional coins for countries like Austria with a heavy presence in the list. Like all of us, budget is a limiting factor. Singapore only has one coin in the list and its gold. For budget reasons, most gold coins and other high value coins have to goto the bottom of the list.

Countries owned: 63%

Graded Coins acquired: 19
Raw Coins graded: 55
Raw Coins @PCGS going through grading process: 22
Crossover Coin at PCGS: 1
Raw Coins on hand (pending submission): 10
Coins failed to grade: 3

Submission 223999: 8 coins submitted for grading in Jan 2021: 7 COTY & 1 COTY 2021 Nominee
Shipped: Thu January 21, 2021, Delivered Sat January 23, 2021, acknowledged as received Wed Jan 27, 2021
Received from Wed Jan 27, 2021 until Wed Mar 17, 2021 which is 40 business days or 55 calendar days . If it follows previous patterns about 5 days to done. COVID has slowed them down but it seems like the counts at pcgs.com/statistics have bottomed out and started climbing again.
Grading from Wed Mar 17 until Mon March 22 5 business days or 7 calendar days
Encapsulation from Mon March 22, 2021 until Thu April 8, 2021 which is 15 business days in encapsulation. In official PCGS time, it's been 50 business days, but by my count, I've been waiting 77 calendar days. Covid takes its toll. Wish they would change expected turn around time so one doesn't expect 35 business day service.
Thu/Fri April 8-9 receive a reply from PCGS Customer Service to an email sent Feb 16. Respond asking them to change/update expected turn around time for grading services. Receive a response that they've expedited my order.
QA: Quality Check from Fri April 9 until Wed April 21, which is 8 days in Quality Check
Wed April 21, after 58 business days, and 88 calendar days, Grades Available. Feels like my ship came in WooHoo!! Really pleased with the outcome of a 1984 France 100 Franc Marie Curie commemorative which was purchased from NumisCorner in Lille France. They estimated MS 65 to 70 and it created a new top pop of MS69 with only 1 existing.
Thu April 22, 2021 order shipped and Sat April 24 coins received after 91 calendar days
https://www.pcgs.com/shared-orders/order-details/22095228

(Order 227323) 10 coins submitted for grading March 11, 2021 including one never graded before.
Shipped: March 11, 2021, Delivered (ready for pickup) Sat March 13, 2021.
USPS Message: Your item was delivered at 7:56 am on March 15, 2021 in NEWPORT BEACH, CA 92658.
Received Thu March 18, 2021 Order acknowledged as received by PCGS
Grading Mon April 12, 2021 until Mon April 19
Encapsulation started Mon April 19, 2021 until Thu April 22, 2021
Quality Check started Thu April 22, 2021
Grades Available Fri April 23, 2021 in 26 business days, this one is really moving fast. Did REALLY well!!! 50% met or set new top populations. Really pleased with the outcome of the France 2018 Peoples Jubilation, first coin of its kind graded and it came out PR70DCAM, WOW. Grades available for two orders in one week, I'm thrilled!
Fri April 23, 2021 26 business days and 43 calendar days,
Sat April 24, 2021 - raised an issue with PCGS support. Coin#41725948 was put in PCGS#862016 "10 Euro Centenaire Armistice, DCAM" which I cannot add to COTY when it should be "People's Jubilation" unknown PCGS# which is part of COTY. See https://www.coin-database.com/coins/10-euro-centenary-of-the-end-of-world-war-i-france-2018.html versus https://www.coin-database.com/coins/10-euro-coin-people-jubilation-france-2018.html Reached out to support Mon April 26, 2021. Grading cited this article: https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces144257.html which puts the name at "Centinaire L'Armistice". It is technically correct and perhaps most closely matches the wording on the coin. Every time I've seen it referred to in the press, it's been as "People's Jubilation". I submitted an edit to that page.
Thu April 29 - coins shipped , complete in about 27 business days, delayed because of my objections, called PCGS and withdrew objections and hold, had COTY set registry updated with new PCGS# 862016. Kind of cool to know that when anyone looks up that PCGS#, it's my coin that it shows.
Mon May 3, 2021 coins received
https://www.pcgs.com/shared-orders/order-details/22182053

Order # 229171 Shipped April 5, 2021 12 Coins total, 6 COTY & 6 other coins
Your item was delivered at 12:12 pm on April 7, 2021 in NEWPORT BEACH, CA 92658.
Received April 9, 2021 until May 5, 2021 19 business days, 26 calendar days and 28 days since I shipped them
Grading started May 6, 2021 until May 10, 2021 3 business days
Encapsulation started May 11, 2021 until May 17, 2021 5 business days
Quality Check started May 17, 2021 until May 25, 2021 11 business days
Shipped Tue May 25, 2021
total time 32 business days, 46 calendar days, and it's been 50 days since I shipped them
Two coins in this group failed to grade - environmental damage and PVC residue.
https://www.pcgs.com/shared-orders/order-details/22228991

Submission# 238646 Shipped Wed Aug 18, 2021 12 coins total, 8 New COTY and 1 hopefully upgrade to an existing coin, USPS delivered Fri Aug 20, and PCGS recognized as delivered same day.
Grading Started Sept 10, 2021 to Sept 15, 2021 5 days
Encapsulation started Sept 15, 2021 until Sept 30, 12 business days or 15 calendar days
Quality Check started Sept 30, 2021
https://www.pcgs.com/shared-orders/order-details/22393413
If you're submitting world coins it seems to get processed much faster if you forget to mark the box.

Submission #2034790 total of 15 coins with 9 coins for COTY, Shipped March 7, 2022, Received March 11. Statistics is showing standard turn around time hovering between 60 and 65 days. May 16, 2022 advance to grading. June 2, 2022 advance to encapsulation. June 10, 2022 advance to Quality Assurance, June 16 grades available. Received the coins. Upon receipt, add some coins to my set. They were not imaged. Contacted support, their error. Send coins back to PCGS. Coins go back through process and their "membership" in my sets is suspended. Take a double whammy. Requested set expansion for addition of 2020 coins. Three of coins in this submission are 2020 coins and I could not add them to the set. Expansion of set drops percentage of coins owned and return of coins for imaging drops % of coins owned. Finally received coins back Sept 14, 2022. Set has been expanded and all new coins added.
shipped/grading/encaps/QC/returned
Submission #262041 - 16 coins / June 9, 2022 / June 15, 2022/Sept 22, 2022/Oct13, 2022/Oct 17, 2022
Submission #265288 - 1 crossover NGC PF70UC 1994 Golf Hole in One crossover, July 31, 2022 /Aug 16, 2022///Dec 2, 2022
Submission #292842 - 5 coins / Sept 5, 2023

I was really pleased with the first batch of coins I had graded (although none of those were COTY) as they came back looking much better than when I sent them. They do a great job! (Feb 24, 2021) It's been a month since I shipped the coins and the anticipation is really building. Still showing "received". Sigh. March 1, 2021 It's been 24 business days; still showing received. Typical turn around time is listed as 35 business days. Last time they beat it by 5 days. March 11, 2021. Anticipation (think of old Heinz Catsup commercial) it's been 30 business days and still just "received". Received a "never been graded" coin that I had been waiting for from Germany yesterday. Shipped another batch of 10 coins off to be graded today. April 19, 2021 - Another possibility about why its taking so long. The coin industry is experiencing boom times and demand is far outstripping the mints ability to supply. Logically it follows that more coins than ever are being submitted for grading. It seems like the boom is creating long wait times.

As stated previously, I initially started collecting US coins. One gets spoiled with rapid fulfillment. COTY is a different animal. Most coins will have to be purchased raw, often from International locations which can be very time consuming, and then sent off for grading which is also an extremely variable amount of time as demonstrated above. I've tried to include time frames and where things came from so you can share some of my surprises and some of the learning I experienced along the way. It's been a good geography refresher.
The fun thing is that coins come from unexpected places and you build relationships along the way. Definitely Not a dry, dusty, or boring hobby.

April 30, 2021 I've been laid off. Progress on this set will have to be suspended for the time being. It is a fairly long and deep pipeline. One more order in process but after that, I'll be silent for a while.
May 28, 2021 Today I posted the last of the coins that just came back from grading. Yesterday marked 4 weeks and no job yet. Sir Gawain will have to run uncontested for a while.
July 9, 2021 Almost as a kind of birthday present (tomorrow) I accepted a position and am going back to work, Yay! Ultimately we're going to be moving so activity will continue to be limited.
Aug 19, 2021 House is in escrow, have rented a house near my new job, in the process of moving. Shipped off some coins to get graded, hopefully we'll be settled in by the time they come back.
Sept 25, 2021 - Wife didn't like rental, so we terminated that agreement. Found and bought a house in Chico, CA.

Blunders:
buying 1/10 oz gold when the 1 oz version was required - Isle of Man Angel Slaying Dragon
buying a coin with the wrong year - 2013 Poppy of Remembrance when needed 2012
not recognizing environmental damage and PVC residue