Why You Need To Buy and Sell Gold Coins (Part 5)

Why You Need To Buy and Sell Gold Coins (Part 5)

by: Steve Renner

Grading coins

The condition of a coin is commonly summarized by a grade. Because the value of collectible coins often varies dramatically with grade and overly generous grading is not uncommon, reasonable grading proficiency is an important skill for collectors. The material presented here is intended only as an introduction to the subject. Grading is a skill that can only be developed over time through referrals to grading guides, consultation with experienced collectors and dealers, and lots of practice.

Published standards set objective criteria for grading, yet some amount of subjectivity is inevitable even expert graders will often assign slightly different grades to the same coin. While you can often ask an experienced grader for an opinion, being able to make your own reasonable assessment of grade is your best protection.

An overview of American Numismatic Association standards follows. ANA standards are widely used in the U.S. but are not the only system used. Much of the rest of the world uses the grades Fair, Fine, Very Fine, Extremely Fine, Uncirculated and Fleurdecoin.

Numerals used in coin grades have been taken from the Sheldon scale (see Glossary).

Uncirculated Coins

Coins with no wear at all are referred to as uncirculated or in mint state (MS). Grades from MS60 to MS70 in one point increments are used for mint state coins. Criteria include luster; the number, size and location of contact marks; the number, size and location of any hairlines, and the quality of the strike and overall eye appeal..

An MS60 coin may have dull luster and numerous contact marks in prime focal areas, as long as there is no wear. To merit MS65, a coin should have brilliant cartwheel luster (attractive toning is permissible), at most a few inconspicuous contact marks, no hairlines, and nearly complete striking details. Grades from MS61 to MS64 cover intermediate parts of this range. Truly exceptional coins may be graded MS66, MS67 or, if absolutely flawless, as high as the theoretical maximum of MS70. Many numismatists consider MS70 to be an unobtainable ideal.

Terms such as brilliant uncirculated (BU), choice BU, gem BU, select BU and premium BU are still used in lieu of numerical grades by some dealers, auctioneers and others. Correlations between these terms and the numeric MS grades are difficult at best, because of inconsistent usage and in some cases overgrading.

Market values for many uncirculated coins vary dramatically from one grade to the next. Remember that whether a coin is described with a numerical or an adjectival grade, itกs only someoneกs opinion. Until you are comfortable with your ability to grade uncirculated coins, make liberal use of other opinions, such as those available with slabbed coins or from experienced collectors and dealers you trust, or concentrate on circulated coins.

Circulated Coins

For circulated coins the grade is primarily an indication of how much wear has occurred and generally does not take into account the presence or absence of dings, scratches, toning, dirt and other foreign substances (though such information may also be noted).

ANA grading standards recognize 11 grades for circulated coins (listed here with brief, generic descriptions):

AU58, very choice about uncirculated: just traces of wear on a coin with nearly full luster and no major detracting contact marks

AU55, choice about uncirculated: small traces of wear visible on the highest points

AU50, about uncirculated: very light wear on the highest points; still has at least half of the original mint luster

EF45 or XF45, choice extremely fine: all design details are sharp; some mint luster remains, though perhaps only in กprotected areasก

EF40 or XF40, extremely fine: slightly more wear than a ก45ก; traces of mint luster may show

VF30, choice very fine: light even wear on high points, all lettering and design details are sharp

VF20, very fine: most details are still well defined; high points are smooth

F12, fine: major elements are still clear but details are worn away

VG8, very good: major design elements, letters and numerals are worn but clear

G4, good: major design elements are outlined but details are gone; for some series the date may not be sharp and the rim may not be complete.

AG3, about good: heavily worn; date may be barely discernable While coins more worn than AG are rarely collected, two additional grades are nevertheless used to characterize them:

F2, fair very heavily worn; major portions may be completely smooth

P1, poor, filler or cull barely recognizable While not included in the ANA standards, intermediate grades like AU53, VF35, F15 and G6 are used by some dealers and grading services. When a grader believes a coin is better than the minimum requirements but not nice enough for the next higher grade ก+ก or กPQก may be included (e.g. MS64PQ or VG+) or a range may be given (e.g. FVF).

Split Grades

When there are significant differences between the obverse and reverse sides, a split grade may be assigned. Split grades are denoted with a ก/ก. For example, กF/VFก means that the obverse is F and the reverse is VF.

The overall grade is often determined by the obverse. An intermediate value may be appropriate when the difference is significant, especially if the reverse is lower. A coin graded MS60/61 would be considered to have an overall grade of MS60, and another at MS65/63 could be considered to have an overall grade of MS64.

About The Author

Steve is the ceo of cashgcardsgoldlynks rare/gold coin club he was the best isp in 1997 check out his about us page at http://goldlynks.tripod.com this article is free for distribution

[email protected]

This article was posted on April 21

by Steve Renner

Avoid Internet Theft, Fraud and Phishing

Avoid Internet Theft, Fraud and Phishing

by: Daniel Punch

Since its birth, the Internet has grown and expanded to unprecedented, unmanageable proportions. Information, software, news, and much more flow freely through its twisted pathways. Online services such as Internet banking save time and money. However, from the depths of its vast expanse have come the dregs of society intent on preying on the new, the naïve, and the less informed.

Phishing is one of the main scams in the present moment. People set up phoney websites and email addresses. Then they spam Email inboxes with officiallooking messages explaining that your account with Company X has encountered a problem and that they need you to login and confirm some details. The email addresses are masked to appear official and the links provided in the email all seem to check out. If you click on the link provided then you will usually be taken to a site that looks for all intents and purposes to be official. When you click กsubmitก your details will be sent to a criminal somewhere who will do as they please with your information, such as withdrawing money from a bank account or purchasing things in your name. The scam has been labelled กPhishingก because the criminals engaging in the activity behave similarly to a fisherman throwing bait out in the hope that theyกll receive just one bite from the millions of people that receive the email.

So how do you avoid these online scams? First and foremost, it is important to realise that no legitimate organisation should be sending you a request to fill out your personal details because of some server error or for any other reason. Your bank will never send you an email with content along the lines of กWeกve lost your bank account number and password… please supply them again for our recordsก. You should also know that no bank is going to require your social security number, bank account number, and PIN number just to log in to your account or retrieve your password. Other sites such as Ebay, PayPal, and the like will not email you asking for these details either.

If you’re a little unsure as to whether or not an email is official, scroll down a bit until you find the link that they are requesting you to click and simply hold your mouse pointer over the link text without clicking. Now take a look at the bottom lefthand corner of your browser window. The link text is often the address that the phisher wants you to think you will be heading to but the real address will be revealed in the bottom of the browser. This address will most likely not have anything whatsoever to do with the company that the email is attempting to imitate. It could be a dodgy web site or even just a page on someoneกs personal computer. If the address doesn’t appear in the bottom lefthand corner then you can rightclick on the link, select กpropertiesก from the popup menu and then read the address listed in the information box.

To avoid further scams make sure that you have updated firewall and antivirus software active on your system at all times. This will make it harder for anyone to install key loggers, Trojans, spyware, or other similar devices intended to retrieve your information. Keep your operating system up to date with the latest security patches and updates and be careful where you enter your details. Always look into the reputability of the site that is requesting your details and keep an eye on the lower righthand corner of your browser. If the page you are viewing has a little padlock symbol appear in the corner, then it means that your details are being secured by some encryption method. You can double click on the icon to get more details if you wish. Sites without the padlock icon don’t have encryption, which means that your details are a lot easier for malicious crooks to get a hold of. Even if you’re sure the website is legitimate, itกs not a good idea to send your details over an unsecured connection. By the way, email does not count as a secure connection, and neither does any instant messaging program, (such as MSN, ICQ, Yahoo Messenger, AIM etc.) so don’t give out personal details that way either.

Another common scam very similar to phishing involves the emailing of promises of great wealth. Seriously, what do you think your chances are of winning the lottery, let alone one that you never even entered? Or of some obscure yet ridiculously rich person in Africa dying and you being legally allowed to pick up their money? Or of a foreign prince wishing to smuggle money out of his country using your account? These emails are all scams. I wish it were true that I won three different lotteries every single day, but if you get in contact with the people sending these messages they’re going to do their utmost to clean out your pockets. Unfortunate as it may sound, the กPlease Donate to Charityก emails sent are usually also scams. If you really want to donate money to a charity, look them up and send it the usual way, don’t respond to a multirecipient email that may or may not be real. You also shouldn’t donate to some random charity that no one has ever heard of before. Some of the Internet lowlifes have started up fake charities, กdedicated to helping Tsunami victimsก or similar and are simply pocketing the donations.

Everything in this world can be used for either good or evil purposes and the Internet is no exception. Staying alert and having just a little bit of Internet knowhow can keep you out of harmกs way for the majority of the time, and allow you access to the wonderful online services available with relative safety.

About The Author

Daniel Punch

M6.Net Web Helpers

http://www.m6.net

[email protected]

This article was posted on February 10

by Daniel Punch

Basic Marketing Dope

Basic Marketing Dope

by: Joy Gendusa

Sometimes the simplest data is the best. Marketing is not complex if you know the basics – that’s true with anything by the way. Here are some tools that are brilliantly simple and with them you really won’t have to sweat the small stuff.

Hot Dope #1) The more that your potential customers see your name in front of them, the more likely they are to call your number (and not someone else’s) when they need the services you offer.

Many marketing efforts go unrewarded, not because they were off target but simply because they weren’t given enough of an opportunity to work. Showing your TV commercial one time, running an ad in the newspaper once, or doing one mailing of postcards may not be enough to grab and keep the audience’s attention.

Get your name out there, do it on a regular basis and people will remember you when they need someone in your line of business. Actually, this particular ขHot Dopeข cannot be stressed enough – and failure to adhere to it is the #1 reason new businesses fail.

You should also know that taking the time to really see which pieces will generate the response you want will pay off. Don’t just totally give up when a response is low – persistence is vital.

Hot dope # 2) Measure your Return On Investment (ROI) in terms of actual MONEY not response rate. An advertising vehicle is working when the MONEY that it brings in has more value than the MONEY and time that is spent on the marketing.

Don’t fall into the trap of becoming discouraged by a small number of callers responding to a large number of pieces. If you spend several hundred dollars to be in the view of a few thousand possible leads, it may only take a few customers responding for you to make enough of a profit for this type of marketing to be valuable. The usefulness of any vehicle can only be determined after the amount of income generated by the promotion has been calculated. If you spend 1/5 of what you generate or generate 5 times what you spend, your campaign was successful.

Hot dope #3) It is much easier to กsellก a prospect once you get them to call or come in to your store. In 2Step Marketing, step 1 is to get them interested; step 2 is having them speak to a representative to get all the details – and get ขclosedข by that representative.

Your design must be eye catching and informative, but don’t try to close the sale by explaining all of the details in one piece of advertising. The details of a business transaction often take many more words to explain than the main concept of what is being sold. For example, if your company offers great prices depending on the quantity purchased, there is no need to list the prices for every quantity that you sell. Simply give examples of two or three different quantities and state somewhere in the advertisement that other discounts are available for other quantities. This will prompt them to call to get the rest of the details once you have gotten their interest.

Marketing can be as simple as 123 when you know the basics. By no means have I given you all the basics here, but by learning and implementing these 3 marketing fundamentals, you are already on your way to marketing success!

About The Author

Joy Gendusa founded PostcardMania in 1998; her only assets a computer and a phone. In 2004 the company did close to $9 million in sales and employs over 60 persons. She attributes her explosive growth to her ability to choose incredible staff and her innate marketing savvy. Now she’s sharing her marketing secrets to others. For more free marketing advice, visit her website at www.postcardmania.com

This article was posted on February 10

by Joy Gendusa

Disillusioned About Your Home Based Business?

Disillusioned About Your Home Based Business?

by: Glen Snethun

Do you sometimes feel like packing it in? Like you’ve made the wrong decision in starting a home based business? Feeling disillusioned? If the answer is yes, read on to find out where you are in your dissatisfaction cycle and how you can get out of it.

When many of us begin a new home based business or project, the ORIENTAION PHASE seems so exciting, doesn’t it? Even though we don’t know a whole bunch about what we’re exactly supposed to do and the amount of detail that we actually do is low, our energy is high. It’s kind of like starting to renovate…we are all excited at the beginning, we haven’t actually got into the nitty gritty and results are, of course, zero. To summarize the Orientation Phase, we could say: Energy = HIGH, Details = LOW, Results = NONE.

After one to five weeks, we might start to experience the DISSATISFACTION PHASE. There are lots of details to contend with. The more we come to know, the more we realize what we don’t know. It’s the old scenario of ripping up the carpet and finding the subfloor needs replacing and while we are at it, we should replace some drywall. Didn’t this renovation start out to be cosmetic? Our energy starts to wane. And still…the results are next to negligible or zero. To summarize the Dissatisfaction Phase, we could say:

Energy = LOW, Details = HIGH, Results = NONE.

Now, let’s stop here a moment. How many of you are stuck in Dissatisfaction in other areas of your life, e.g., your exercise program, your health, your relationship with your spouse? I bet you wish you could find a way to get beyond this neverending cycle you keep finding yourself in.

The key is support. The right support. Perhaps it’s a mentor, or additional education, or bringing in an outside contractor. Whatever it is, the correct and directed support will thrust us ahead into the RESOLUTION PHASE. In the resolution phase, we have ขresolvedข to get to the bottom of what is holding us back. We do whatever it takes! We pay our dues. Guess what happens then? Energy = HIGH, Details = HIGH, Results = SOME.

When the support kicks in and everything starts to move, we graduate into the PRODUCTION PHASE. All systems are go. Everyone is working together as they should, things are getting accomplished. The last coat of paint is going on. Energy = HIGH, Details = HIGH, Results = HIGH.

While we may have the same exercise program we started with (energy is low, details are high and results are nil), by engaging a trainer or a mentor, we have noticed our energy and enthusiasm about our exercise HIGH and the results HIGH as well.

The right support is critical to any endeavor. We are not created to go it alone. Build your support structures in each undertaking and seek to move into PRODUCTION as quickly as you can.

Copyright 2005 Glen Snethun

About The Author

Glen Snethun is a stock/options trader as well as a fulltime Internet Businessman, Author and Coach. Glen dedicates his time to showing others how to create multiple streams of income using the Internet.Get ideas from Glen at http://www.GlenSnethun.org

This article was posted on August 10

by Glen Snethun

Review: 1,000 Graphic Elements Special Details for

Review: 1,000 Graphic Elements Special Details for Distinctive Designs

by: [email protected]

All graphic and print designers, professional or amateur, need a spot of inspiration now and then to let out the more innovative and creative ideas. Just imagine a world where graphic and print designers come up with monotonous and boring creations that’s terribly lacking in entertainment and flares of excitement.

There are certain details in graphic and print designing that contribute greatly for a designer to come up with sensational masterpieces. In fact, too often, the small and delightful details are what make a design piece shine. Even in practical everyday life, let’s say a unique button on a white shirt gives the shirt an entirely new look or a piece of artwork in a sparse wall makes the wall less dull. These examples only show that minuscule details add in making the whole effect of something, perfect. This concept is very much applicable in the field of graphic and print design.

This was the concept Wilson Harvey wants to emphasize in his book, 1,000 Graphic Elements Special Details for Distinctive Designs. In this book, Harvey explores 1,000 of these added extras, details that are diminutive but important, made available for graphic and print designers. We are saying ขmade availableข because the book has exacting photography that focuses on these details, accompanied by credits and outlining the vendors and materials used. The content of the book is organized by type. Looking for unusual bindings? Well, dig into the bindings section of 1,000 Graphic Elements Special Details for Distinctive Designs and open your mind for a wide collection of fresh ideas.

Designers handling all kinds of projects – books to brochures, invitations to menus, CDs to annual reports will have interesting reference from this book. Actually, it even invites them to literally shop for ideas. If you’re a print designer, you would be familiar with many techniques, but this book makes you see interesting variations of what you know and see them used on a myriad of different projects.

Wilson Harvey, a Londonbased integrated designer in a marketing agency that focuses on producing highend communication for a wide range of clients, showed refreshing and contemporary work in this book. It goes without saying since Harvey has already designed more than 500 books for a variety of publisher, his experience outshone some other design books which drag out old projects.

Other topics covered include fasteners, graphics, unique materials, embossing, debossing, specialty inks, type treatments, interesting color usage, addons, die cuts and more. The index lists stock and materials used for each project are also very good. To sum it up, if you are a designer who loves print/finishes – unusual finishes, at that, then this book is for you.

About The Author

Lala B. is a 26 yearold Communication Arts graduate, with a major in Journalism. Right after graduating last 1999, she worked for one year as a clerk then became a Research, Publication and Documentation Program Director at a nongovernment organization, which focuses on the rights, interests and welfare of workers for about four years.

Her writing prowess began as early as she was 10 years old in girlish diaries. With writing, she felt freedom – to express her viewpoints and assert it, to bring out all concerns imagined and observed, to bear witness.

For comments and inquiries about the article visit http://www.ucreative.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on March 07

by [email protected]

The Most Useful Way To Utilize Traffic Exchanges

The Most Useful Way To Utilize Traffic Exchanges

by: Eric McArdle

If you advertise through clickexchange traffic programs or GPTR programs, then you should have an idea of what a timed visit is. Basically, people have to view your page for a certain amount of seconds before they can get credit and move on. And that certain amount of seconds is all the time you have to catch their interest. Lets average it out at 20 seconds that your visitor has to view your site before they can move on so you need to catch them by creating a what is known as a…

Lead Page

A lead page is a very brief, straight to the point webpage that is intended to capture the name and email of your visitors so you can respond and followup with information about your business, product, affiliate program, etc. The webpage should consist of three different sections:

Catchy Title

The title should clearly state the whole purpose of your webpage in a few short words. Your title needs to speak out to your visitors and tell them why they should put their details in the form. The title should also lead smoothly into the next part of the webpage which is:

Brief Details

Whatever it is you are promoting or selling, state its benefits in a short paragraph under the title. Maybe you can also include a free gift if they decide to request further information. Your details are your last chance, if they’re not satisfied at this point, youกve lost them. If they do decide to submit their details, that leads us to the last part of a lead page, a signup form…

Signup Form

After you create your title, and list some brief but beneficial details, you need to create a form for your potential customer to subscribe to. When they input their details, you should have an autoresponder setup to reply to them discussing your business or product in further detail and including the url to your main webpage so they can visit it. This way you are bringing all of your lead page visitors (who already have an idea of what your product offers) to your main webpage where they can explore it furthermore.

Now heres the scenario: You only had around twenty seconds in the advertisement to introduce your business and concept, but once youกve gotten contact details, you have plenty more time to strategize a plan that covers your businessก benefits and opportunities.

Also, you shouldn’t put any header or any sort of graphic on your lead page. You need to have it load within a few seconds and all a bunch of pictures will do is slow the load time.

Remember, you may only have a few seconds. This doesn’t just go for timed visits, many people surf the internet hastily and may never consider your offer straight from your sales site because they don’t know you or your product. If they catch some interest in your lead page and input their contact information, you have just the chance to introduce yourself and your business and product.

About The Author

Eric McArdle is the publisher of the TrafficaZine Online Marketing Newsletter which is a publication intended to provide the marketing or web designing entrepreneur with high quality tools and resources that they can effectively apply to their business. http://www.trafficazine.com

This article was posted on April 09, 2004

by Eric McArdle

5 Hidden Resources For eBay Users

5 Hidden Resources For eBay Users

by: Jason James

Many thousands of people making a living both buying & selling on eBay. Currently ranked as the 37 biggest site on the net (according to Alexa figures) eBay shows no signs of slowing down, even fortune 500 companies are opening eBay shops to sell surplus & unwanted stock. The following are five resources that I use personally & encourage you to use them to increase your eBay profits with ease.

Reports show that over 90% of searches on eBay are done using the search facility. What users do not know about eBays search factility is that by default it only searches the item titles not the descriptions of the items. Remember this fact as it will show the significance of some of the resources listed below.

1) FatFingers

How professional a seller are you? Do you check your listings before submitting them or even does someone else proof read them for you? With millions of listings on eBays networks of sites at any one time, a small proportion of these listings contain errors & a misspelt word is about the biggest error you can make.

Imagine your selling a Sony Television for example. What if you misspell the item as Sony Televisoin. Anyone who searches for the term กSony Televisionก simply isn’t going to be presented with your item. Only those eBayers who search manually though the category will find your items. Needless to say that if people can’t find your item, they’re unable to bid on them.

FatFingers is a service you can use to find all misspelt variations of a term. Why would you need such a service?

Well obviously if an item has low visibility on eBay itกs also likely to have zero or few bids enabling you to snap yourself up a bargain. Iกve known people use this service to make a full time living, purely buying items cheaply and relisting them without errors.

Details at: Fatfingers.com

2) eBay Pulse

Back to the search facility eBay pulse shows you the top 10 searched keywords in every category. Itกs a real gem of a service, obviously by looking at the most widely used search terms you can see what eBayers are after. And if your selling in this category, by inserting some of these keywords within your title your items will be seen by more users.

The only thing to watch out with this service is make sure the keywords are relevant to your item, IF NOT DON’t USE THEM. How many times have you saw listings such as กSONY PANASONIC LG WIDESCREEN DIGITAL TELEVISION GUIDEก, listings such as these are well thought out to earn high visibility from the way users search. Anyone searching for the items with any of the keywords will uncover your listings.

While it may lead to a high number of views, firstly fellow users will get annoyed if they find your item completely unrevealed to what they searched for, Secondly keyword spamming as it is known, is against eBay policy and will lead to your item being pulled. I use pulse daily with all my listings but make sure itกs relevant to your item first.

Details at: pulse.ebay.com

3) KeywordPro

KeywordPro is a commercial subscription service which is similar to eBay pulse. However, the main difference is KeywordPro offers a much more in depth list of relevant keywords. It lists the top 50 keywords for every category for both eBay.co.uk & eBay.com. This is a great addition, especially if any of the terms found in eBay pulse are not relevant to your item.

KeywordPro is available as both a web service or as a small program that downloads the list onto your P.C. Itกs data is updated weekly to keep you informed of the latest search terms.

Details at TradingWebSolutions.com/keywords

4) Selling Manager

When you first open a selling account on eBay, options listed under the sell tab of eBay are enough to get you by. However, you can upgrade to a more in depth service known as Selling Manager. As eBay describes the service กeBay Selling Manager is our online sales management tool for medium to high volume sellersก. It allows you to track every eBay sale, customise your feedback comments, print shipping labels & much more. It saves me about four hours a week tracking orders and watching my sales.

Selling Manager is FREE on eBay.co.uk & has a small monthly charge of on eBay.com (after one a month trial free). Once I moved over to Selling Manager, thereกs simply no way I would go back.

Details at: Click on services once youกve logged into your eBay account.

5) eBay Popular Products

Here you can see, directly from eBay, what the most popular products are in several categories. an invaluable tool for an eBay seller.

Details at: http://productindex.ebay.com/best_selling_1.html

I hope you find these services useful & time saving in your goal for a successful home business on eBay. Remember, your most important resource is your time when your starting or building up an online business & if you discover any site, person or opportunity that can save you time give it the attention & serious consideration it deserves. Every top Internet marketers constantly educate themselves by purchasing & reviewing almost every new product released. The way I look at it, if an ebook costs $197 and the information within the ebook saves me this or allows me to make an additional $197 itกs well worth it once you can do it once youกll be able to repeat the exercise over and over again making repeated profits. If you discover a precious eBay related resource let me know & Iกll consider revising this list for future editions.

Good luck with your eBay selling.

Copyright 2005 Auction Resource Network

About The Author

Jason James’ website ‘the Auction Resource Networkก reveals his inside secrets and sources that help him pocket over $10,000 a month on eBay. Claim your FREE 14 Day กLearn How to Sell on eBayก eCourse Here: http://www.auctionresourcenetwork.com

This article was posted on September 08

by Jason James