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Message:: [QUOTE="Insider, post: 8048114, member: 24314"]Interesting question that takes me down "Memory Lane."  In 1972 I got the novel idea of counting the edge reeds on $5 Indians to see if I could detect counterfeits that way.  No Dice.**  But it turned out that by regularly counting reeds on most reeded coins (we rarely received more than one coin at a time - perhaps 40 a week so we had plenty of time!) it turned out to be helpful for many key coins and we discovered that the Mints often used different collars between them and even at the same Mint!  I believe either Van Allen/Mallis or Wiley/Bugert were the first to include reed counts in their books. There are several methods used to count them.  I believe photographing the coin while it is sitting in a flashlight reflector is the one most folks see talked about.  I'm done counting before they even get their "rig" and coin ready. All I do is pop the coin's edge under the scope.  Rotate it until I see a distinctive mark on a read and start counting by slowly rotating the coin.  Most larger coins have counts way over 140.   <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie2" alt=";)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> ** Very often the edges on counterfeit coins do not look as they do on a genuine example.[/QUOTE]