My son learning to use the Red Book

Last night at iur club auction a 1914 D wheaty went for about $30 or so. I have no idea what grade it was, or even what the thing looked like. My son all the sudden took note, and is now re-searching all his wheaties. Kinda funny, but he ask me why that wheat cent went for so much and I explained to him the about mintages and that the D and S were much lower that the PS and that's what makes them more desirable.

I used the Red Book to show him how to see the mintages for a given year and mint mark. Don't think I'll get this one back, guess, I'm gonna have to pick up a new Red Book :/

Wait a minute, that means I get a new Red Book!

 

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start them young having fun

 

if hes going to hold coins teach him how to do it properly..

 

$30 for a 1914-D? I need to investigate your coin club!! Even if it's a cull beat to heck and back that's still a good price.

Anyways, props to you for giving the gift that keeps on giving... Next you need to get him one of the really old Red Books so he sees what things went for 50 years ago. I have a 1957 and cringe when I see something like a quarter I spent $70 on went for 10 times face back in the dark ages!

 

but its great that hes into the hobby

 

he knows the difference between a grimy circulated wheat cent and a coin that you would hold properly ...ain't no amount of holding any certain way that's gonna help those wheats

That reminds me tho, some of the guys in this club have about a srew and a half loose. Had one guy tell me last night, and he was proud as a peacock about this, he got a jar of old indian head cents from a lady who had kept them under the kitchen sink in a mason jar with the lid off. He then whent on to tell me how horribly corded they were with this "green stuff", but he found a method buy which to clean them. He told me to mix vinegar and salt in some water, then dump the pennies in to that solution and, wait for it....wait for it.....boil them on the stove for about 15 minutes

Then he showed me one . I told him that the green stuff was most likely verdigris, and that there is a product called verdicare that would actually remove the verdigris and conserve the surface of the coin. I told him in some severe cases the Verdi-care wouldn't get it al, off, but would do a much better job of not, ummm, stripping off the top layers of patina and copper from the coin. He looked at me like I was an alien, then said "well theses were all really severe..."...LOL!

 

b

boiled them holy crap kid gonna hurt himself..lol
yea keep him outta chemistry class for a while..lol

 

man verdis ex insanita

 

No matter how young or old you are, any collector can enjoy the simple pleasure of putting pennies in a blue Whitman folder. I am still doing it.
Good job getting and keeping your son interested.

 

Love it! I'm pretty sure that we all got our start with wheat cents one way or another. Get him a Whitman folder and watch him love the hobby. Though he may cut into your coin budget eventually. I'll send a sack full of wheat cents to search if you want. They've been searched numerous times, but he may find it fun.

 

I sense we have an Einstein in our midst's. lol

 

Some people never get it. Others, it takes time. Have fun teaching and showing your son all about coin collecting. It's great father and son time!

 

Yeah, I'm thinking the same thing. Ha, ha! I suppose just a typo, I have made quite a few, too.

 

Oooh, that French coin pictured on your avatar is my all time favorite coin design. I absolutely love that design!!!

 

Almost all!

Chris

 

If your going to get a new Red Book, get the Giant size one, or as I call it the "old man's edition" its got bigger pictures for the guys who are 70 plus.

 

How adept are you at examining a coin through a loupe while holding the book open to a certain page?

Chris

 

The 14-D did go cheap but it started at around $30 and ended around $130.

As for the indian heads if there were seriously corroded together verdicare would not have been the way to go and the boiling vinegar/salt solution was probably the best way to go. (Although I probably would forgo the salt.) That severely corroded the corrosion had probably already eaten into the surfaces.

 

Great that.you've got him with his head I the references! He's off to a better start than many!

 

Any thoughts on soaking copper coins in WD40?