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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;chip, post: 1743013, member: 19122&quot;]When faced with a daunting task, it can be overwhelming. It does not matter what sort of task or goal it is. In my nature there is that part of me that wants what I want and I want it now, not later BUT NOW.</p><p><br /></p><p>This is the essence of immaturity, the babe that cries for a suck, the toddler wailing for a piece of candy. It is in most all of us, that are human, and in most all societies it is just a part of human nature, raw and UNformed, UNinformed, UNdisciplined. </p><p><br /></p><p>Advertising caters to that urge, buy now, pay later, but they neglect to tell you that when you are paying later for what you enjoyed yesterday, or yesteryear, you have that much less to apply to what you want now.</p><p><br /></p><p>This applies to collecting coins also. Though I have not yet totally been able to forego a purchase here and there, I have been able to limit them somewhat, As I have seen more coins, the thrill of an indian head cent is now muted, but the thrill of an uncirculated one tends to grow.</p><p><br /></p><p>A good easy way to satisfy the urge, while still engaging in the hobby is to roll search, thanks to all the roll searchers on coin talk who speak of their finds.</p><p><br /></p><p>I have found that I am starting to find a pattern, I buy a few low end purchases in one week, some silver eagles perhaps, nice mintstate coins for not much over spot, then the next week I can indulge in a capped bust half, or I can purchase a bunch of cent rolls and go through them, seperating out the copper from the zinc, and the wheats from the memorials, and the canadian from the us, and the next week I can get a good upgrade on an indian head cent.</p><p><br /></p><p>The coin talk site, with its wealth of experience and opinions has added to my experience, I am able to spot the more harshly cleaned coins now, and I have found that the great deal I thought I had made in pulling some peace dollars and morgans from the cull lot were actually not great but fair deals. </p><p><br /></p><p>I have been able to spot some capped bust halves that were harshly cleaned, and tho I am enamored of the series have been able to see the cleaning and not try to fool myself into thinking that when they circulated everybody who handled them, handled them in exactly the same way causing all the marks to be uniformly in the same direction.</p><p><br /></p><p>So that brings me back to my first goal, and I think it will keep me busy and engaged for quite a while and that is to be able to join the capped bust half nuts club.</p><p><br /></p><p>This is like eating the elephant, I understand that one must have 100 varieties in order to join the club, many dealers I have visited do not have even one capped bust half, they are not as popular as morgans and peace dollars.</p><p><br /></p><p>How do you eat the elephant? one bite at a time, eventually the elephant is eaten.</p><p><br /></p><p>Each one is only a drop in the bucket, but every river is made of all the drops of water that have fallen from the sky.</p><p><br /></p><p>MY dad left me two capped bust halves, both pretty good pieces, the 1820/19 O-101a, and the 1825 0-110. a couple drops in the bucket, a couple bites of the elephant, but a good start.</p><p><br /></p><p>Part of my job sometimes entails making close measurements, involving thousandths of an inch or hundredths of a millimeter, I have worked at jobs where measurements were actually done in millionths of an inch, now I respect the work that overton did, it is a grand opus, but I have found that many of his measurements leave much to be desired, and the way he details them is also lacking.</p><p><br /></p><p>For instance The example shown of measuring the date has the rule lined up from the straight area of the 1 to the straight area of the four, ignoring the crossbar on the four or the base of the 1, but the principle does not seem to apply in other date measures, so I find I cannot just rely on the date.</p><p><br /></p><p>also many of the capped bust halves have extremely weak milling, add wear to that and the diagnostic of the stars becomes less informative.</p><p><br /></p><p>Another problem, not with the book is that I have come across some examples that appear to be made of a different material, I heard that contemporary counterfeiters used a material called german silver, so that elephant seems to get bigger at times.</p><p><br /></p><p>The goal is secondary to me, it would be nice to someday become a member of the club, but there is also worth in the attempt to achieve the goal, there is some fun in looking at some examples, to know some things about the series that can enhance the fun in the act of finding and buying the coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>And in the end, that is what the hobby is about, fun and enjoying it, my learning curve is to resist just making a pile of coins, it is to savor every bite, to not just try to quickly finish the meal but to find the pleasure in the preperation, the presentation, and the eating of it.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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