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Posted 01/31/2009 6:01 pm
I understand where both Chuck and vud091 are coming from.
Chuck is trying to teach us about what really is "worth" keeping or "worth" letting go. Think of it this way: anything in the world is "collectible". Whether it be old stock certificates, doorknobs, swizzle sticks, discarded beer can pull tabs, or the hobby that we here choose; the "hobby of kings", coins. But even within the scope of the coin hobby there are items people of little means can collect. There are many people, including a few that I know, that collect damaged coins. One of the people that I know does it knowing that most of his collection truly is "junk", but he likes the way some of the pieces look when they have been altered. He knows the hobby well enough to know that intrinsically the collection is worthless (except for face value) but him and his family live on a very strict budget, and even though he knows if he devoted enough time to bank roll hunting he could find some valuable coins over time, he simply does not have the time! He looks through something like 5-10 rolls of cents and nickels per week, and that is all he has time for with two jobs and three kids.
In almost every roll you open from your local bank you can find examples that would fit into the collection of my friend. He has close to 1000 coins, and he is actually proud of his collection. Which he should be! Just like the individual somewhere that collects interesting looking rocks from the local beach or different types of coat hangers is proud of theirs. They won't be filling their gas tank when they try to sell what they have, but that isn;t the point. At least they are collecting something, and perhaps the day will come when they have the time and the money to turn their attention to collecting something that might have value in the future. I think that is more the angle that vud091 is coming from.
BUT.....
Most of the people on here (if probably not all) would like to think that what they have found is valuable. And that is where Chuck comes in. He wants to make sure that we know that that Lincoln we just pulled out of a roll with the shelf-like doubling showing on just a small portion of the obverse lettering is caused by the coin press ejecting the coin, and really doesn't have value as a "rare" coin variety. If everything that we found that looked odd as far as coins in a bank roll were concerned were valuable, we all here would have yachts in the Gulf of Mexico! Unless there is a ridiculous demand for a certain relatively common item, one rule almost always holds true: Valuable things, especially when it comes to coins, are rare! Nobody is going to pull a Doubled Die out of every bank roll! You can search for years and NEVER find a valuable Doubled Die in circulation. Based on what I have read here (somebody correct me if I am wrong) but Bill of FoundInRolls (who if you have ever checked his link located in his posts to see photos of what he has Found In Rolls you know he has found some ASTOUNDING stuff!) has never found an 1984 Doubled Die LMC! And I believe that recently Chuck just found his first 2000 Wide AM Cent! Folks, rare and valuable coins are just that; rare and valuable! Don't be offended if Chuck tells you what you have is of no value; 99 out of 100 of the things we find in rolls that some of us think have value have heard the same thing from him when we post photos on here! Having read thousands of posts, I can also assure you that Chuck will be the first to congratulate you when you DO have something! It feels good to hear that!
So, yes, I agree that Chuck can come across as harsh at times. When I first started posting here a little more than a year ago I thought that he was actually pretty arrogant! But I came to realize something very quickly. I was learning a treasure trove about this hobby on this Forum, and nobody was teaching me more than Chuck! Now every time I check into the Forum I seek out any and all of his expertise, and other than this Forum I spend more time on coppercoins.com than any other site. Try to look beyond him telling you things are "junk" and/or "worthless" when you post an photo of a coin asking for advice. He is only trying to teach you!
Chuck is trying to teach us about what really is "worth" keeping or "worth" letting go. Think of it this way: anything in the world is "collectible". Whether it be old stock certificates, doorknobs, swizzle sticks, discarded beer can pull tabs, or the hobby that we here choose; the "hobby of kings", coins. But even within the scope of the coin hobby there are items people of little means can collect. There are many people, including a few that I know, that collect damaged coins. One of the people that I know does it knowing that most of his collection truly is "junk", but he likes the way some of the pieces look when they have been altered. He knows the hobby well enough to know that intrinsically the collection is worthless (except for face value) but him and his family live on a very strict budget, and even though he knows if he devoted enough time to bank roll hunting he could find some valuable coins over time, he simply does not have the time! He looks through something like 5-10 rolls of cents and nickels per week, and that is all he has time for with two jobs and three kids.
In almost every roll you open from your local bank you can find examples that would fit into the collection of my friend. He has close to 1000 coins, and he is actually proud of his collection. Which he should be! Just like the individual somewhere that collects interesting looking rocks from the local beach or different types of coat hangers is proud of theirs. They won't be filling their gas tank when they try to sell what they have, but that isn;t the point. At least they are collecting something, and perhaps the day will come when they have the time and the money to turn their attention to collecting something that might have value in the future. I think that is more the angle that vud091 is coming from.
BUT.....
Most of the people on here (if probably not all) would like to think that what they have found is valuable. And that is where Chuck comes in. He wants to make sure that we know that that Lincoln we just pulled out of a roll with the shelf-like doubling showing on just a small portion of the obverse lettering is caused by the coin press ejecting the coin, and really doesn't have value as a "rare" coin variety. If everything that we found that looked odd as far as coins in a bank roll were concerned were valuable, we all here would have yachts in the Gulf of Mexico! Unless there is a ridiculous demand for a certain relatively common item, one rule almost always holds true: Valuable things, especially when it comes to coins, are rare! Nobody is going to pull a Doubled Die out of every bank roll! You can search for years and NEVER find a valuable Doubled Die in circulation. Based on what I have read here (somebody correct me if I am wrong) but Bill of FoundInRolls (who if you have ever checked his link located in his posts to see photos of what he has Found In Rolls you know he has found some ASTOUNDING stuff!) has never found an 1984 Doubled Die LMC! And I believe that recently Chuck just found his first 2000 Wide AM Cent! Folks, rare and valuable coins are just that; rare and valuable! Don't be offended if Chuck tells you what you have is of no value; 99 out of 100 of the things we find in rolls that some of us think have value have heard the same thing from him when we post photos on here! Having read thousands of posts, I can also assure you that Chuck will be the first to congratulate you when you DO have something! It feels good to hear that!
So, yes, I agree that Chuck can come across as harsh at times. When I first started posting here a little more than a year ago I thought that he was actually pretty arrogant! But I came to realize something very quickly. I was learning a treasure trove about this hobby on this Forum, and nobody was teaching me more than Chuck! Now every time I check into the Forum I seek out any and all of his expertise, and other than this Forum I spend more time on coppercoins.com than any other site. Try to look beyond him telling you things are "junk" and/or "worthless" when you post an photo of a coin asking for advice. He is only trying to teach you!
