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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;BostonCoins, post: 1886024, member: 34720&quot;]I know that my question, on its face, seems like a silly question. However, the more I pondered it this morning, the more I believe that this could actually be something that can (or does) happen!</p><p><br /></p><p>In full disclosure, I have impaired vision. I developed cataracts due to medicine I had to take a few years ago. Luckily, my vision can be corrected with simple surgery (which I hope to have done this year). However, due to my blurred vision, I haven&#039;t touched my coin collection in nearly two years. I just can&#039;t see the coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>This morning, as I was receiving my change for breakfast, I was struggling to see what coins I got back, and the question occurred to me... &quot;Do blind people collect coins?&quot;. </p><p><br /></p><p>I believe that the answer could be a strong YES... .Here are my theories why.</p><p><br /></p><p>1. Figuring out the coin denomination. If you were to reach in your pocket right now, and your hands jingled the coins around, I have no doubt most of us could figure out what coins were in our pockets by the simple feel of the coin. The details ranging from diameter, thickness, weight, coin edges and such would be enough for us to figure out whether we had a dime in our hand, or a quarter. No doubt, people that are blind would have the same exact skill set, if not even more defined.</p><p><br /></p><p>2. Figuring out the coin date. I began to wonder how someone without vision could do this. Then I remembered &#039;braille&#039;. I am sure we&#039;ve all seen it at some point in our lives, and even touched it. To me, just seems like a bunch of dots and lines. I can&#039;t make ANY sense out of it, yet someone who is blind can use this to read letters and words. Their sense of touch is often greater and more sensitive than someone that can see. Does it not seem to make sense that they could touch the coin, and feel the lines and such that make up a date? Seems to me that this would be not only possible, but likely plausible.</p><p><br /></p><p>3. Figuring out coin condition. This also goes back to the sense of touch. A worn coin and a MS state coin have very different surfaces. It would be fairly easy to determine whether a coin is worn or not. Now I&#039;m not implying that someone that is blind would be able to tell the difference between an MS63 versus MS67, but I think that overall, they would be able to tell in a general sense the difference between a circulated coin, versus a mint state coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>4. Coin material base. When it comes to a simple example of what a coin is made of (such as Silver compared to Clad), it is well known that there are easy ways to determine the content. One of the ways you often hear Coin Roll hunters using is to &#039;drop&#039; the coin and listen to the sound. I&#039;m not saying this is a good method for collectable coins, but if you think about it, it would be fairly easy for someone that is blind to pick up on the slight sounds of a silver coin hitting the table. It is often said that a person that is blind has hearing that is MUCH more sensitive than someone with vision.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>In the end, with my arguments or suggestions above (which ever way you take them), I think that it is quite plausible that someone that is blind COULD collect coins. I&#039;m not sure I&#039;ve ever known anyone that is blind that collected, nor have I ever heard anyone in the news that did either.</p><p><br /></p><p>What do you think? Do you know someone, or have heard of someone that is blind that collects coins?[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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