First and foremost, Happy Holidays to one and to all. May your 2009 be brighter than your 2008.
I've been coming here answering posts for better than a year now, not exactly sure how long. I'm sure it's in here somewhere how long I've been around and hoe many times I've posted, probably more than I care to know, which is why I never looked.
Anyhow, I wanted to share some observations I've made over time:
1. Many here probably think I'm a grumpy old fart who has nothing better to do with his time than come here and torment the newbies. Far from it. I see this place as a breeding pool for the expert collectors of the future. Some people have a long road ahead of them, others are picking up on it very nicely and are answering more than they are asking. Not that asking is bad, but...
2. When you find something and are told it's nothing, what do you do with it? I can tell you what you should do with it. When you're told it's
Machine Doubling - mark it. Stick it in your collection and use it as a learning source. It's your best reference guide. Print the thread you asked on, keep those in a notebook referencing the coins, and you've got the best free book you've ever not bought. Merry Christmas.
3. When you come here asking questions and a number of knowledgeable people chime in and agree with one another that you've got a damaged coin, take the advice you're given. Insisting they are wrong isn't going to change what you have.
4. Some people (many of us, and all of us were guilty at one time or another) tend to look to hard to turn something in their jar into something worth more than one cent. It's not that easy, really. There are hundreds of thousands of damaged coins to every true error, and 95% of the errors are picked out before they make it into mainstream circulation. Don't think you're not finding them because you're not looking hard enough...it's because they really are scarce, and you're not likely to find more than one bonafide error out of less than a hundred thousand coins.
5. Die varieties are generally easier to find than errors, because not only are they duplicated a number of times, but they are for the most part going to take a little magnification to see. They are fun because there's such thing as a 'set', even though that keeps growing. There are also other pieces out there for most every die variety known. Errors don't tend to have that sort of 'order'. So if errors begin to bug you because you can't find any, start looking for die varieties.
6. I know there is some disagreement about this, but it's the simple truth, regardless of what people might think...die cracks, small die chips,
Machine Doubling, and die erosion are normal wear and tear parts of minting coins, are accepted as reality by the mint, and pass into circulation regularly. They are NOT errors, and aren't worth a hill of beans. If you want to collect them, that's your choice...but they truly are worthless, and you or your heirs will find that out when it comes time to sell your collection.
7. If it looks like it's probably damage, it probably is. FAR more cases of damage are posted here than anything that came out of the mint looking the same way it's posted here. A book on the minting process would be a VERY good investment on the part of everyone here who doesn't have one. Once you understand the process completely, you'll be able to answer more than half of your own questions.
8. I want this to remain a place for everyone who has questions to be able to post them. I want everyone who has a question to post it, regardless of how many thousand times the same question has already been answered...but be understanding of the following:
- If you ask the same question about the same effect ten times in a week, the answers are likely not to be as detailed the tenth time as the first.
- If you mark the junk as junk and refer to it later before posting another junk coin and asking questions about it, you might find yourself learning more and leaning less.
- This is designed as a learning environment. It's not really designed to be a dumping ground for every wierd coin you would rather have an instant answer on rather than doing a little research yourself. There are over a thousand threads here to search through for
Machine Doubling, die cracks, and other forms of die wear and damage. Another post about the same thing only floods an already overrunning cup.
- Nobody is paid to be here, and everybody is welcome to join in. Just remember that first part when it takes a while to get the right answer to your question.
I am NOT singling anybody out, and I am NOT creating rules. I'm simply stating my equal opinion about what I've been seeing. Truthfully, a LOT of mire and only a little real learning, because there tends to be a VERY heavy concentration of what I would think should be obvious damage to anyone and continuous banging on the same subjects over and over again. Just food for thought...and I'll go back to answering.
Have a great holiday!
Posted 12/23/2008 10:42 pm
