What scale do you use?

Got one the other day.

 

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You will never regret it. Everyone should have one.

 

Now all I have to do is clear a spot for it. All this work is endless.

 

I'll be darned, it is slightly different! Looks exactly the same, but has a different name. Probably the same scale with an added digit.

PG

 

To vary as little as yours does would seem acceptable for what I do and probably others.

 

I just bought one on eBay with .01g accuracy for $9.95 from a Chinese seller -- no tax, no shipping cost. Don't pay more than about $25, whatever you buy.

 

I got a Digiweigh that has +/- .01 g accuracy and it's great. It was around $20 off ebay.

I have some very tiny test weights that are for checking a reloading scale. The digiweigh will accurately weigh the 1 'grain' weight every time. Which is 0.06 grams. It's a tiny little 3/8" piece of metal. It's so light you can't even feel it in your hand. (FWIW, there are 7000 grains in a pound.)

It would not weigh the 0.5 grain weight. It was too light to register. I don't know how that affects it's accuracy with heavier things but that was the result. I think it weighs up to 3.5 ounces and will read in grams, ounces, grains or carats.

IME, the higher quality ones that will cost more money are the ones that can weight that accurately at the low end but can also weigh more at the higher end. Like 1 lb. or more. Then they really get up there.

There's been great advice here. This scale is all you would need. You won't need to use it that often so it's one of those things that it's probably not worth blowing a lot of money on. A Dillon precision would be better but I'd say not necessary for checking coins.

 

how useful is a scale?

Newbie here (first post!)

I'm getting back into coin collecting and have been reading with dismay about the flood of counterfeit coins, mostly Chinese. One of the articles I was reading about detecting counterfeit coins mentioned getting a good 0.01g scale and comparing weights to known values, as well as calipers, magnet, loupe, etc.

The question I have about the scale is, unless you're talking about gold coins, it seems fairly straighforward to make a silver plated alloy blank that weighs the same as say a real Morgan. So how useful is a scale really in checking the authenticity of a coin?

While I'm here, how does one use a scale to check a slabbed coin? Wouldn't you have to break the slab to get an accurate measurement, defeating the point of buying a slabbed piece to begin with?

Any insight appreciated. Thanks!

 

I was wondering the same thing. I don't have a solution for the silver Morgans, but as far as slabs, you could get an idea if the weight is right, but there is a margin of error that would keep you from properly estimating small coins.

Basically, for the weight only method your pretty much SOL.

PG

 

Slabbed Weight?

I thought you paid them to weight it when they slabbed it.

 

Scales

Hi, I myself using the scales which i have purchased from difitalscalesaz.com which i got at reasonable prices and it's working fine and showing the accurate results.I like their service how they satisfy their customers.:smile

 

Has anyone consistency issues with your digital scale?

For a coin I measured e.g. 2 months ago, when I measure the same coin today I get differences in the second digit after the decimal point and the differences can obviously propagate to the first decimal digit or even to the units.

The weight is consistent for some coins but not for all of them and the difference is not the same for different coins. I always use the scale on the same table and before use, I leave it to acclimate to normal room temperature, but last time I used it it was during winter and now it is supposed to be spring (however it is snowing today...)

I am using this scale, which I got from Amazon:

Flexzion Jewelry Scale Digital Mini Diamond Gold Coin Small Items Weight Gram Weigh Pocket Tool LCD Display 300g x 0.01g Precision Portable 7 Unit Switch Silver

and I calibrated it with a 200g calibration weight.

Is this inconsistency normal for this kind of scales, is something wrong with the scale or am I doing something wrong?

 

Your scale is likely advertised as being accurate +/- 0.01. So a 0.02 difference would be normal and pretty much meaningless for coin purposes. You can buy check weights down to the gram or fractions of a gram. These would be good for verifying how it does measuring the lightest of weights.
Even if you had a perfect scale, coin weights fluctuate due to wear and imperfect original planchets. Theres a spread the planchets could fall into and still be within tolerance. Its not very much but enough where it can show up on a scale. Now add normal wear and you can drop the original weight significantly from freshly minted. When you see a slick coin that material went somewhere. Its not on the coin anymore.

 

Thank you very much Vess1. Will have to get used to differences in accuracy