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RDCanecutter

Certifiably Surly
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Everything posted by RDCanecutter

  1. [Let's pop open the bottle of plonk here in the linseed-reeking loft and have a good ol' Art Rant about some art shows.] Determined to fill the entire calendar with profitable shows in 2025, I reached out to the Hive Mind of my friends, and it looks like they've got me some good suggestions. But instead of focusing on the many good things in life, I'd prefer to spit venom about one that I doubt I'll go to. Right down the road in TTown, is one that COULD be good, but they just had to gimp it up. Two-day show. About $250. Probably about 100 overpriced for what it is, but maybe not. Then they have something about needing a business license. And the county has no info on business license price. You find out after you send your booth payment. This is "stick your head in the noose, and trust us." It's worse, because it's a red flag of sloth-- lots of well-organized shows have deals with their cities where a business license is waived for all vendors. In an area divided like the Holy Roman Empire, it's the only way shows happen. But that's not the best. They decided all prints must be hand-pulled and numbered. I could number them all, but it'd be a scam. I worked in several print shops as a ute, and numbered prints. I also numbered xerox prints from Kinko's. I don't feel like engaging in fuckery anymore. Furthermore, just ordered a few thousand more dollars worth of Photographic prints. I guess I could diddle around the categories with those too, but I am still stuck on some county admin gouging me for a pay-to-play. Fuggit. [/No actual legit art shows were harmed in the making of this rant]
  2. We must have already liberated France's "No-Go-Zones" as reported by Hannity, and inhabited by me, the deadly Moroccan storekeeper on crutches, and many old ladies going about their business.
  3. If we were Ancient Greeks getting our teeth kicked in by plagues and famines, we'd probably thin out that demographic. The remaining humble folk would be wary.
  4. My best UT housemate was a South Asian from Canada.
  5. "Between the seats sits a piece of Travertine stone..." I dunno if I'm fancy enough for that, but in the 90s I carried a log inside my VW Camper Van and I'd use it to chock the wheel on hills because I was building up the energy to crawl under it and repair the parking brake line.
  6. Silencio has decided to annoy the living shit out of me. I missed a day or two, so what happens is, I'm out the door ready to walk, and it'll tell me that to restore my streak, I either have to pay coins, or else watch three ads. Well, I can't waste any of these super-valuable coins, so I click on "watch ads." And get a firehouse of one Idiocracy AI game ad after another. I let the things run... then it wants to start them again, and again. Nah honey, I'm just not that into you. Phone off, walk like caveman. Happy. I had fun with it while it wasn't grifty, and my Little Empire of green hexes still stands. If y'all are having fun, keep on going!
  7. Self-publishing a book is about like self-planting a tomato plant. Except with the latter, you might get tomatoes.
  8. Smart people are actually easier to fool than dumb people. Some old Greek Philosopher said so. The smart person knows they are so smart they can't be tricked, and they will do mental backflips on themselves to justify what they want to believe. The dumb guy, if he knows he's dumb, he figures let's stop and see how this guy wants to trick me. There was no FB back then, I suspect that would have changed a lot of things. But tldr, smart people are suckers too.
  9. Surly Classic.
  10. TIL that there can be things on coins called "cuds." Maybe you got 4 cuds. Key Variations to Look For As a collector, you may be interested in obtaining some of the most popular Morgan Silver Dollar errors and varieties. Here are a few notable examples: VAM Varieties: VAM (Van Allen-Mallis) varieties are Morgan Silver Dollar die varieties identified by Leroy Van Allen and A. George Mallis. Some of the most sought-after VAM varieties include the 1878-P 7/8 Tail Feathers, the 1879-P Reverse of 1878, and the 1887-P Doubled Ear. Clashed Dies: Clashed die errors occur when the obverse and reverse dies strike each other without a planchet in between, leaving impressions from one die on the other. A popular example is the 1889-P Morgan Silver Dollar with a clashed "E" visible on the reverse. Off-Center Strikes: Off-center strikes occur when a planchet is not properly aligned between the dies during the striking process, resulting in an off-center design. These errors can range from slightly off-center to dramatically misaligned, and they add unique character to your collection. Double Strikes: Double strikes occur when a coin is struck twice by the dies, creating a doubled or overlapping design. These errors are highly sought after for their distinctive appearance and rarity. Die Breaks and Cuds: Die breaks and cuds are mint errors resulting from cracks or breaks in the die. These errors can create raised lines or blobs on the struck coins, adding a unique touch to your collection.
  11. Ain't no blob-ass bitter-chick got nothin I need. I just eased on around to the food.
  12. Yep. Not pristine with or without the marks... only question is whether you got a chunk of silver or not. I am leaning towards "yes," hope I'm right.
  13. OK, probably good news. Not Lambo money, but better than nothing. Bear in mind that I am a blithering amateur on Morgan Silver Dollars. I have bought and sold maybe a dozen, and seen a couple of fakes, and this could still be fake, but I just don't know it. Weighs good Looks OK Not a rare date (this is good, rare dates get faked more.) You probably have a legit 1881 Philadelphia dollar. From the amount of hair lines visible, and the worn down breast feathers, we are maybe looking at a "VF-20", kind of a C level grade. I think it would take more $ to get it graded than the coin would sell for. My book said there were 9+ million minted of this year, and VF-20 might fetch $35. I suspect that is optimistic-- I've gotten similar prices on eBay for Morgans, but your net ends up more like $25 after fees and postage. Those marks look like some bored doofus scratching at the coin with a nail or chisel, and won't improve the grading. You may still have a nice chunk of silver. A coin dealer in town says he's paying $22 for coins like this right now, if you just want to turn it into a pizza. Avoid pawn shops. Or maybe you want to keep it. It's got a secret that sets it apart from most silver dollars-- the worn surface shows that it was out in the world, paying bills, buying rounds of drinks, maybe convincing that dancing girl to peel off her silk stockings. 2/3 of Morgan Silver Dollars spent their whole existence unwanted, sitting in bags for a man's lifetime at the Mint. They were a scam for the silver miners, who, depending on the price of silver, could get dollar coins minted in exchange for as little as 60 cents of silver. This one may have been in the West or Deep South, where they were more popular. Uppity Yankees preferred bank notes. If I were you I'd take it by a coin store that has devices that can "read" the composition of the coin. They love doing stuff like that, and you'll know for sure. PS: I wouldn't clean it or otherwise try to make it look better. People pay less when that happens.
  14. Good, good. Fakes fail those two tests a lot.
  15. Does it have reeding on the edge? Looks like a smooth rim from the photos. Can you maybe do an edge-on photo?
  16. First thing you wanna do is weigh it on a digital scale. 26.73 grams is what you want it to be. It may be a hair heavier or lighter due to dirt or wear, but if it's a couple grams light, probably fake. I'll go dig up my coin book in a little bit and add more. I don't like those marks. They give me suspicions.
  17. I was at a party a few days ago that was mostly High Church type people who got themselves indignantly worked up over whatever they'd last heard on NPR. The French Army in 1940 had more chance of winning than these people. Zero tactics, no clue as to why their arguments weren't selling to people, just that they were better. They weren't even kind and gentle. One turtle-necked malcontent dropped a "You must be a redneck" snark at me because I had on a (warm) plaid shirt and I sound more like Webb Wilder than I do a piccolo. That's Transplanted Northumbrian English, baybee. I coulda come back that her butt was big, but I just thought it. So anyway, that happened. I'll go back to hanging with my liberal artist friends who have paint under their fingernails, as we sell our stuff to anybody who knows how to act in public. Fuck it. Where's my damn Trump check.
  18. Change it to "Ran Craps tables with penny and nickel bets and folks STILL wanted to whup my ass," and you might be warmer.
  19. I can't see "p f chang" without hearing it in perky uptalk.
  20. Thus ever is its fate. Think about all the indigenous art that the Spaniards melted into ingots so they could ship it home and win the fair hand of María Dolores Culo Podrido de la Finca de Chicharrones de Pedos Pantanescos. Couple months ago I was in the biggest coin shop around here, and they were sending Gold Eagles off to melt. They would have happily sold them to customers, but when the fish don't bite, still gotta keep the cash flow.
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