I have pretty well been going over every single coin that I get hold of either via pocket change or rolls, Hoping I may spot something that had been missed or got dumped via a piggy bank for gas. Now the quick glance thing ya for sure, but correct me if I am mistaken, I am sorta wasting a lot of time scoping out each and every item of each coin. Basically if it is not listed in one of the more reliable sites, after a quick glance just put it in the return pile. ( more recent date aside) . Appreciate our pinions here. Thank you
Well I have searched a lot of coins. What I do is set them on the table face up I have trouble seeing so I run a quick magnifying glass over all of them, Checking date and such, If something catches my eye I will do a double take. Then away they go to either dump box or keep. JON
If you have the time and passion nothing wrong with that. I figure a big cud , doubled die, or proof will stand out, Enough for me to do a double take and maybe check the reverse. I will usually do a 1/3 of a box of cents a night. Where Halves I can easily do a box or 2 a night . JON
I pretty much do this too. With all the recently minted coins I scan for large scratches on the face with a task lamp and no magnifying glass, just moving my head over/around the coins, the light really shows the scratches. If they look too bad I just push them aside; the ones that might look good I get the glass out. Older coins I look at everyone with the glass; its a hobby not a job so I see no reason to rush through it.
Some of the same principles apply to sorting and identifying stamps, except you only have to look at one side.
First, pops; what is your goal? This is important as it can help answer your question. Do you hope to find even the most minor of technical errors and/or varieties? Are you interested in only varieties but not errors (or the reverse)? If interested in anything or even just errors, checking all coins is really your only option. Like I said in the other thread, it's all pure chance, and better finds have shown themselves at the oddest of times. If only varieties, then yes, you could whittle down the dates/mints checked if only looking for certain known/listed ones. That said though, this is your hobby to do with as you see fit, so there is no right or wrong about it. Checking every coin of every type one encounters on top of box searching could get very old very quickly, so if that's too much, don't do it.
At my house, we have two jars. All change goes into jar #1. After I've looked it over with a loupe, it goes into jar #2. Nothing wrong with looking, you never know what you'll find.
Similar to my strategy with one slight deviation: all change goes into jar #1 Jar #1 when full gets stored until I learn more about what I'm looking at to create a jar #2. might be a while until I get to that though.
@Pop70 , like @BooksB4Coins said, if you are just looking for specimens of coins that have already been discovered, you might be missing out on a lot. For example, it was just a couple of years ago that a nice DDO was discovered on a 1919-P Mercury dime. Imagine that! Almost a century went by before it was discovered. http://www.coincommunity.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=198902 Chris
The Cherrypicker's Guides are great tactile options. Otherwise, here are some error/variety websites: http://www.error-ref.com/ http://varietyvista.com/CONECA Master Listings.htm http://www.doubleddie.com/ http://www.errorvariety.com/index.html https://www.ngccoin.com/coin-varieties/
It must be remembered, though, that the cherrypickers guides are not definitive or all-inclusive references, but essentially a listing of the winners of a popularity or value contest. In fact, it is debatable as to if the books are even worth the price of admission anymore since there are many free online references that not only list the same varieties (with their FS numbers), but provide much more information about them while also listing near countless other varieties CP does not.
For me, I am looking for all errors and varieties, so I do spend a lot of time when I am bank box searching. After some time it became a lot easier and quicker to start at the rim, all the way around and then slowly go into the internal part of every coin, kind of in a circular fashion. The hardest of them all for someone who has poor eyesight, like myself, is looking for "spreads" on doubled dies, it seems to be very tricky and I'm sure I've missed many an error that way. I also have to use a higher powered loupe and lighted to do my searches but only because of my eyesight. In addition to the above mentioned sites, for RPM's you might try www.briansvarietycoins, a lot of photos and most are not listed in CP Guide but they are still real and collectible if that is something you are interested in. Tom
Thats sounds like me Tommy, Could not see a date unless its 4 feet away then I still need glasses. Ha Ha. Oh and to the OP I also throw all the 92 ,98,99,2000's aside for wide and narrow am's Still have not found one though. OH BTW your link did not work for me?
Morning, surprised I found this But www.briansvarietycoins.com should unless it's .org or something ......... sorry for the delay in response, had a day at the medical places yesterday, hence was just plain tired. As for eyes wellll I can stand tall in that club. Purchased one of the Celestron Microdirect 1080 HD and it has help tremendously.... reminds me of the "good ole days" lol .... I believe what mentioned about the site was correct, am not real sure, for I have not yet visited it, just clicked on it didn't hook up for me either, that is when I noticed h .com/.org thingy missing. Time for a second cup and continue checking out what it is I missed out on yesterday. Than you, be back
Well I would venture to guess in order of priorities, it would be key type dates and mints, (the more rare the better, I believe I had mentioned before that it was the quest, not the "find" that is important to me; (right now searching for the 09 Jefferson has been a task; next would be errors; put them on a balance I believe they would weigh out the same pretty much. Varieties mmmmm ? Well That will more than likely come about; Figure that There is SO VERY MUCH I must get down in knowledge that I must first gain a little before I can apply that to the variety types. I just cannot resist picking up a roll of this or a roll of that and truthfully speaking I am running out of room (very little of that to begin with, and I am probably the worst organizer here, Then again, If I should ever need that 5 or 10 $ down the road, it will be there) That pretty well sums it up. Oh yes, unusual coins as well, should I find a coin of a different color or an older coin in gooood shape will put that in a little 2x2 and tuck it aside, just because it is nifty. Thank you so very much I cannot begin to say how much I appreciate every one here.
Yea I did that too. Until I just had back surgery and had time to go through a bunch. WOW I kept a lot of coins. After learning a whole bunch on this site about true errors and such half of the cool coins went to the dump bank yesterday. The worst part is when you see something that catches your eye that you know is not right trying to explain it here to some folks that think you are just plum crazy!!! My best finds to date are a very fine 35 buffalo nickel, a large dateless cud Cent, A 1909 very fine cent, a clipped planchet half, And a dime with a good size off strike on both sides somehow, And a whole lot in between. Just be careful with that micro seeing extra dates and such your eyes see that these guys do not!! You may be able to find the 7 dif varieties of 82 cents. Where I just weigh and throw. JON
Yep, now the newest of "on the brain" things is on the way to the medical/doctors/hospital ( a two hour trip) stopped for a pop, all the change I received from a 2015 penny to the 2002 quarter where pretty much AU, this little quick stop town has one little lonely bank, and would venture a guess, that unless you lived there, would never stop at.... so you know I have to make a trip and stop at it just to pick up a roll or two of assorted coins. 3 weeks must go back threw for lab results and council. Curiosity and the cat
I just checked and it looks like www2.briansvarietycoins.com. Sorry about the missing 2. Seems like an odd address but I just checked it and it works this way.
If memory serves me, it's been that way for a number of years. Apparently it's a way of identifying closely related sites. That said, anything linked directly from Wexler will most certainly be safe.
