On this post, I'm continuing to� share additional� notes on my numismatic research� on "Special Medals for United States Government Agencies".�

More of my old numismatic research notes. What are Special Medals for United States Government Agencies?

� ��I have only been collecting POW chits for about a year. I find them amazing bits of history. My interest grew out of my MPC studies. Since my dad served in Italy during WWII and we are of Italian descent, I try to concentrate�on that area but also collect others that interred Italian soldiers as well as Italian Service Units, “ISU”.

Hey Everybody! This is everything numismatic that is going through my head right now. So, without further ado...1) What is with the US Mint's packing?Have y'all gotten your hands on the new Type 2 Silver Eagles Yet? Well, point aside, the coin is pretty, let us tell you that. However, the packing IS THE DEFINITION OF CHEAP. No more nice little container that contains the felt-lined box. Now, the packing is what they use for the commemorative half dollars- open, felt lined little piece of JUNK, and a cardboard cover. Disappointing.�2) Why does the US Mint make us wait 5 months for a coin?I have asked myself this many times as I wait for our coins to arrive via Snail Mail. The US Mint is very fond of placing out little coins for early (yes, very early) preorder, then making the numismatic faithful wait months. Groan. Stop this cruel practice, and only set your coins to order when you can dish them out right away.�3) Olympics!With the Tokyo Olympics going on right now, I decided to set the overpriced- fat cat Olympics to scale for the lay person (forgive me, but after hours on the couch watching China beat everybody in Ping Pong, this was one of the few things I was thinking about.�As on June 2021, the price was set at 26 Billion. Wow! Now imagine each dollar as a penny, which is about 1.52 mm thick, and weighs about 2.5 grams. Now please dig out those calculators. The final height of the stupid pile of penny we hoarded: 24,556.59 Miles, towering over every building in Tokyo, including the SkyTree and Tower, combined. That should place an Olympic-sized dent into the ground.�Now, for the weight- at 2.5 grams, and 26 billion of those little suckers, should weigh about 65,000 Metric Tons. Dropped on someone's head would surely be fatal, and punch a nice hole through the Earth. You know what else weighs 65,000 tons? Over 9,000 Elephants. So, Tokyo is spending the equivalent of over 9,000 Elephants, and with no spectators helping to off-set some of those elephants, we can imagine that can get pretty heavy!Thanks Everyone!�

As a collector, or hoarder as I'm referred to after forty-seven years at this thing, there have always been those coins which are only but a dream to one day hold in my hands. The 1804 dollar, the 1870 s quarter and so forth. Then there are those with low mintage totals, the 1916 d Mercury dime or the 1909 s VDB Lincoln, largely out of reach to most.� Even in grades of good or very-good 8 they are quite pricey, unappealing against the others within the series. Over the past few months I've shifted to similar coins, low mintage or low survival figures, that are by definition true rarities. Coins with mintages one-tenth that of the mentioned 1916 d dime for an astoundingly low price compared to that in a grade of about-good.� One coin in particular recently acquired in a perfect proof 70 ultra cameo for $264.00. The 2016 Winged Liberty.� � � � � � � Enjoy!