I've said my last about fakes, so I'll offer a different kind of blooper. This year I decided to fix my collecting tool problems once and for all. I spent my entire collecting budget -- not just the coin budget, everything -- on a precision lab scale, full photography setup, high end loupes and magnifiers, binocular microscope, the works. The only thing even close to worth the money was the scale, and that only because of one of my non-coin collections. The rest of the stuff is quality, but honestly, the improvement isn't that noticable. Next year I'm spending my collecting budget on having fun!