I've read many post on errors/variety coins and I'm in complete fear of spending any change now! When I was a kid all these varieties/errors were few and far between or I was oblivious! I went and got the Cherrypickers Guide for cents & nickels, and then started searching, which is tremendously time consuming. After going thru the the pennies I then discover coppercoins.com! This has an even greater list of varieties than CP! Feel like I need to start over again! So back to the subject of how do you do it????? Any tips, techniques, or instructions that make this easier please provide! How do you sort? What do you use for tools that make this easier? Do you limit yourselves to one type of coin? Where do you find the time? I want to be able to spend change again without fear taking over me that I may have just spent a very valuable coin....;-)~~ Please help to get me back to my regularly scheduled program. ;-)
I'm starting to do the same, here is my plan, maybe it will work for you. I seach lincoln cents exclusively but there is no reason why you couldnt do the same with any denomination. I too was tring to do ALL my change but there is just SO much to learn about each I decided to just stick to one until I know it inside out and backwards. I begin by separating all my lincoln cents into decades, I have one of those cheap plastic party cups marked with each decade. When the cup is about half full I separate down to years and have at it. There are some years that you will learn not to bother with, they go into the big coffee can to go to the bank. After culling those out I get out the books. This may sound a little time consuming and it is at first, but once you start the turn around is pretty quick. Again, what works for me may not work for you but hopefully it will give you some ideas. GOOD LUCK!
Not all errors or varieties are really worth the time and effort spent to find them unless you want to build as complete a set for one denomination as possible, but this can be a daunting task which requires a great deal of time just studying the resource materials to recognize them. And, not all of them are really worth the expense of having them authenticated and/or graded. I'm not a collector of Lincoln cents, but several years ago, I was able to acquire 3 - $50 Mint bags (1974 x 2 & 1980). I decided just for the heck of it to search the 1980 bag. I ended up finding 228 with a "Clashed Y", but while I was sorting, I had to make separate piles of any and all die cracks, gouges, scratches, polishing marks, etc. because I'd never know when one of them might be a PUP for something more important in a progression. It took me 4+ years to complete the entire bag because looking at so many small coins would quickly give me a headache. Was it worth it? Not really, but it was fun! Like Merlin said, try to concentrate on one denomination, but I wouldn't recommend that you try to memorize all of the varieties and their respective PUP's. It would take too much time to try to commit all of them to memory. When you happen to find one, study it and try to determine if it has any PUP's that will make it easier to find. When I searched that 1980 bag, I found that all of the "Clashed Y" specimens had two vertical die scratches on the reverse which made it much easier to identify those with the clash. The important thing is to have fun. You never know when you might find one that is truly worth the effort. Chris
I agree with what has been said so far: unless your plan is to actually collect a set of all the different varieties, you want to limit yourself. The great thing about the cherrypicker's books is that the errors they list are, for the most part, worth a decent amount of money. While this isn't always the case, they will at least be worth something, so you can stick with those if you are just looking to stop from getting rid of something valuable. If you plan on trying to collect the many, many different errors, I would suggest picking only one denomination. You should also check out Coneca which is the main group for error collectors. They have extensive lists of finds and people who will help you authenticate a find that might be new and unique.
Many good points made so far. I would also highly recommend picking up a decent dissection microscope. It is so much easier to search large volumes of coins using a microscope as opposed to using a loupe. I end up nearly blind after using a loupe for 20 minutes, whereas I can search for hours on my scope. I search lincoln cents purchased off of counting machines in my local area. As I go through them, I segregate them into 5 bags. One for wheats (and Indians - ha), one for 82 and pre copper, one for "copper to check" - which includes all of the known doubled die and good rpm years (60-64-d, 69-s, 71, 72, ect..), one for "zinc to check" again including all the good doubled die and rpm years and finally, one bag for zinc to return to the bank (these are given a quick check for clips, cud's, die clashes, etc). I stockpile several bags of each type and go through them whenever I am out of fresh stuff to sort. I have found that once I find a specific variety, I am much better at spotting it a second time. In other words, the more you do it, the better you get. Good luck! Chugly
I was thinking along the lines of suggestions made, was thinking along the lines of sorting by the decades, but I guess I need more workspace also. I did get a stereo microscope and some loupes. I guess I need to learn the ones not worth looking for, because CPs has a lot then I saw the varieties on www.coppercoins.com and they have even more! Thanks for all the info!
Could you elaborate what you mean by this? What do you mean by "counting machines" -- CoinStar? If so, how do you "purchase cents off them"?
I take the same approach. But I further seperate into groups by mint. Then when I have enough coins to warrant it ( I buy boxes of rolls to search) I set several like coins on a tray and use a magnifying lamp to view them. Anything that looks "different" gets pulled for further inspection. If I am not sure at that point, it gets tossed into a cigar box for more research. Beats the heck out of watching TV ! IMHO
Fishing costs more than it's worth in money and time too. It's whatever YOU like doing. Most of us will put money into our hobby over time in supplies, coins, books, etc. But there is always a sense of adventure when "on the hunt". Finding a "worthless" error is worth the effort. Especially a circulated coin that has passed through many hands without being discovered. It's like "winning". Nuff said.
Gary, Thanks again because reading about your find got me interested in this plus a few others. I have always wanted some error/variety type coins, but I enjoy it when I find stuff myself. It's easy to go buy something but when you find something yourself it means more. Just like getting an autograph or buying one. I just want to get short cuts to get in the swing of things faster. ;-)~
A young dog or seal! Pick Up Point - a marker, whether it is a die scratch, die gouge, die crack or polishing lines, that can be used to identify a particular variety. Something like a strikethrough is a one-time event and could not be used as a marker, but anything that is permanently affixed onto the face of a die could be used. Chris
