I am supposed to talk about some kind of interesting topic at the next coin club. Does anyone know of a good idea for something cool or unusual?
Tell them how good of an idea it is to clean your coins with a rock tumbler and that nobody would be able to tell
A discussion of the New Orleans mint at the start of the civil war in 1861, being controlled by the USA, then the state of Louisiana, then the Confederacy might be interesting.
Talk about the problems you run across as a YN. And how hard it is to stop using the red book as a.pricing tool. Or go do a synopsis of the US nickel --- you have a type set--- and do a nice presentation. That means writing a paper and reading it at the meeting.
That would be an interesting topic. I don't think the OP has the resources to research and present this as an original product though. He would have to lift someone else's work and that would be plagerising. I think the club is looking to have him contribute something he produced. Maybe his mom or brother or dad --- I'm assuming here --- or someone should help him.
You don't need cool or unusual. You need a topic you can write a paper on that when you read it outloud it takes you five or more minutes to do so. Then you ask if there are any questions. If there are you either give the answer or you say you don't know the answer.
You should already know, you started it! Cac Perhaps instead of just telling them it is stupid, you could research both sides of the issue and make an objective presentation about the CAC.
Anything history related would have to be summarized, and not just quoted word for word from another source, and such a summary wouldn't be plagiarism. I could send him a ton of information on the 1861-O half dollars if he wanted to narrow down on a single coin, and the die identifiers used to tell if the US, Louisiana or the CSA minted them. But, based on something he said in another thread, I think he's more into world coins than US, so maybe something on world coins would suit him better.
how the fact that one small variation on a coin can make it worth way more than the same coin in a different variation
A better idea would be to "read and respond" instead of creating new threads. What I mean by that is that most folks "participate" before they ever start a thread either by lurking or as responders that have something to "add". You, on the other hand, start threads asking a question or making a statement and then never bother to "participate" in your own thread. What I am REALLY thinking is that you ought to stop posting threads and instead start a BLOG. That way, you can freely post whatever disconnected ramblings that pop into your head. It's the entire purpose behind a blog and it appears to perfectly suit your style.
OK, I will put in my $0.02. It would be nice if the OP sometimes responded so as to start or stimulate a dialog instead of just posting and lurking. Now, I taught high school for a few years and have had lots of students present reports. You don't need anything original here, and you are not going to be graded. You could even (your choice) read an article aloud to the club, add your own views and then lead a discussion. Another interesting tack would be to pick a subject you don't know Jack about and research a few articles on the net, educating yourself and then share this and get a discussion going. You might learn something if you are not careful
Detecto - I hate to be negative, but this is true. You start a thread and almost always abandon it. You're getting some nice feedback here, and you don't even come back to acknowledge it or say thanks for the ideas.