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 Replies: 73 / Views: 8,721 |
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Valued Member
United States
117 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
7629 Posts |
I'm not keen on hand held anything. If you've chosen this as your hobby and know you will eventually look through thousands upon thousands of coins, it's time to pony up for a scope. If you might be looking at an occasional coin here and there, a $10 loupe will be fine.
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Valued Member
United States
117 Posts |
well my plan was to make a wood base for it to set on, then make some pices of wood that the pennies slide in under the scope. Someone else on this site mentiond that meathod.
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Valued Member
United States
117 Posts |
coppercoin
i have looked at your scoope at the sight you mentioned, and I can see how you would prevail using this. Would you, per chance post a pic of your setup, including the ash borads you fit the cents into?
Thanks
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Valued Member
United States
117 Posts |
could you post a picture of your setup?
Thanks
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Valued Member
United States
117 Posts |
still curious to see what it looks like
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7629 Posts |
I will do the best I can to get to it before the end of the week. Understand, however, that I have a job that works me 10 hours a day, a family at home, hundreds of photos to edit and post this week already, and a major cross-country move coming up in a month. I'm generally so busy I don't know how I even find the time to come here and post responses...but I'll work on the photos.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1571 Posts |
Terrell, I would like to offer an alternate to Chucks' method. I used it at first, but because of a problem with my vision, I developed another way, that works very well. I made a box that holds 30 square tubes, (three rows divided by a slim piece of wood. that gives me a "hole for each date, and MM. This is for ging thru decades, only.
The other way I di it for all dates, etc is to make a holder for 60-69, 70-79, 80-89, etc. put tubes ineach hole,and the date, w/o regarfd to Mm will give you the single date, and mixed MM. As far as viewing, the Ash strips work fine. it takes longer to load them, than it does to check both sides of the coins.
If you don't have a vision problem, then the point is moot. thanks for looking. If anyone wants a look, I can post pictures of both systems. FYI, three boxes will give you 90 dates, and MM's separated.
Dick
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Valued Member
Philippines
212 Posts |
Hi coppercoins & livingdinasaur, please post pictures of your set-up. Thanks
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1571 Posts |
junjiesalvador, here is a picture of the original setup for all dates, (i.e. wheat, memorial), and without regard to mint.  As you can see, it takes up a lot og space. I decided to make it easier, (for me), by making a box that holds three rows of square tubes, ten to a row. this gives the date, and mint in separate tubes. I take a box of cents, and sort them into four boxes, (this gives me all dates and mints, plus several tubes to use for extra coins storage). Number the spaces for the tubes from 0, to 9, and the rows "P", "D", "S". You can then check by date, and MM, as you desire. Hope this helps. Looking at the picture, I can see why I went to the four boxes of 30 tubes/box. "Sort them,now, check them later". Dick |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5318 Posts |
Dick, that looks like a very organized method!  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1571 Posts |
Kurt, it is very simple. I tried Chucks method, and it means handling the coins several times. My method involves "sorting by date, w/o regard to MM, ( in the way shown). it still involves another need to go thru the dates, and sort out the MM's. my present method involves four sets of tubes, thirty tubes to a box. This allows full access to each date, or MM. this way, I handle each coin once, during the sorting. Then the coins are checked by date, and or MM. Once checked, they go into rolls, and are boxed by decades. SO, if you come up with a "new variety", I can go to the same date/MM, and check the rolls on hand. works for me!
Dick
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7629 Posts |
Well, actually my method involves handling the coins one more time than your method, requires far fewer containers, is capable of sorting far larger lots, and would take an immensely smaller amount of time. It is scientifically the shortest route to having all coins separated by date, and it works very well.
Additionally, since my containers can be coffee cans, gallon bags, or whatever I want to store ten of, I can sort bag after bag into my containers and look through only the digits I care to look through at any given time.
One other difference is that once I look through a group of coins, they go away. I don't want to see them again. If you learn the characteristics to look for and pull out anything that's not normal, you won't miss anything worth having. Saving the coins is unnecessary once they've been looked through. That's just my experience.
With the sheer number of coins I go through, I have to be doing something right with my method. I couldn't imagine having a tube to fill for each date - that's the slowest way possible to sort a bag of coins by date. I can sort and look through a 5,000 count bag in 2-3 days. A half day to sort, the other 2 and a half to look through them. Sure I might miss some of the little minor stuff, but nothing nice is going to get by me that deserves to be found and yanked out of the pile.
One big caveat to how fast I can look through coins...
In circulated wheats I tend to pull out ALL corroded and damaged coins and toss them to the bank pile. I look through all the rest of the coins of dates where valuable varieties are known. Then for the dates that don't have anything major known, I toss out all the coins below VF, and ONLY look through EF and above. Reason: If I'm looking for a needle in a haystack, I'd rather just look at the shiny needles. No sense pulling out a rusted nail as a 'discovery' piece. It would be worthless to the science if I couldn't photograph it and have it be a piece to use for publication. I guess that's where I completely separate myself from collectors. I'm a scientist - I have to have nicer coins for the work I do, and nothing less is worth having because I cannot use it.
In Memorials I get from the bank, EVERYTHING stained, dragged across parking lots, corroded, or otherwise damaged goes in the junk pile before I sort. No sense sorting them if I'm not going to look through them, and no sense looking through them if they aren't worth photographs.
I'd rather skip over a hundred decent but corroded or damaged die varieties to get to one that's nice by going through more volume. Wasting time on the minute details can slow you down to a point that you'll miss your date with the next good find and it could go to someone else. Volume is the nature of this game, and if you're slowing yourself down by not sorting the coins, sorting them slowly, looking at damaged, bent, corroded crap, or by using an electron microscope to find the most minute little things, you're missing most of the hunt.
There are a hundred billion cents out there to be looked through - not to mention all the other coins. If you looked through ten million a year you could go from teenager to a very old man and not see .001% of all the cents made. The faster the better, and the more experience the better. The more you look the better you'll get. Don't grow attachment to piles of coins you've already seen. Get rid of them and replenish the stock!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5615 Posts |
CHUCK, as usual your input is greatly appreciated.I hope to receive a stero microscope and I believe this will help me and save my eye's(whats left of them).I also have given alot of thought to your very, educational information, and I do believe I am my own worst enemy.I also feel you are right in that there are far too many coins to see to "play " with every little error, and I am not getting any younger, tomorrow the big 53, still a kid at heart.
Keep the very informative on going education going, I FOR ONE APPRECIATE AND RESPECT KNOWLEDGE, THANKS AGAIN, BE WELL, MIKE...
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Valued Member
United States
117 Posts |
how about a pic of the scope and boards set up
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Replies: 73 / Views: 8,721 |
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Posted 11/24/2008 2:40 pm
