Friday, September 29, 2017
Thursday, September 28, 2017
A Coin Roll Hunting Primer
I was talking with a new coin roll hunter last week...
He: "Whats the average amount of wheats you've found in a 25 dollar box of pennies??
Me: "7-10 is about right. I've pulled over 50 and I've been skunked. I search them all for die varieties, never been skunked."
He: "Die varieties?"
His question is poignant. There is a whole world of numismatics out there that this fellow has not been exposed to. I see this with a lots of inexperienced coin roll hunters. While they have discovered that wheats can be found in abundance just by searching through pocket change and bank rolls, they have not yet learned of other things that can be found which, if correctly identified, are highly prized and valuable.
Wheat cents are worth 3-4¢ each for common date, circulated examples that would be typically found in bank rolls. Plenty of folks collect wheats and assembling a complete set of 40s and 50s with all mintmarks is entirely possible just from coin roll hunting. If hunting wheats for their value is the objective, there is much more out there that is being missed. I see wheat cents as an incidental perk rather than the primary objective of a hunt.
Here's a sampling of the sort of thing that can be found just from hunting through cents...
This is the result of the wrong reverse die being used in certain years. WAM is an acronym for Wide AM. It refers to the distance between the letters A and M in America. A circulated 2000 WAM can be sold for around $5. You might find one in your next box. It may take several boxes to find one. It's a sure bet that if you don't check for them you won't find any. Compared to wheats picked out over 10 boxes, perhaps 100 wheats with a marketable value of $3, a single WAM can bring around twice the value. Searching for only three dates (1998/1999/2000) in addition to the wheats can give you nearly 3 times the value vs wheats alone. Since these require little extra effort compared to the leap in value, I have put together an article to better explain WAMs and CAMs and a video to go with it:
There are Proof strikes to be found in circulation. They might not look as nice as the example shown, but they are out there. Learn to identify them.
Over on the right side of this page is a list of link that will take you to the Reader Gallery. These are coins found in circulation. Some things are worth a little. Some are worth a lot. Some are just plain weird.
If all you are doing is searching for wheats and silver, you're leaving the big money behind. Wheats are good for 3¢. WAMs...5 bucks. In a couple of boxes there's a good chance you'll find one.
That last box of cents you went through had some of these in there. For all the effort, I'd like to think you pulled out more than 50¢ worth of wheats.
There are 2 reasons why people search for wheats rather than die varieties
I put out a series of videos which shows my method from start to finish. Everyone has their own method which works for them. There is no Best method. All I can do is offer ideas which may improve your efficiency and results.
You don't have to be lucky. You only need to be persistent. They are out there.
Good Luck and Happy Hunting.
He: "Whats the average amount of wheats you've found in a 25 dollar box of pennies??
Me: "7-10 is about right. I've pulled over 50 and I've been skunked. I search them all for die varieties, never been skunked."
 |
| Wheat Cent Reverse Design Produced from 1909-1958 |
He: "Die varieties?"
His question is poignant. There is a whole world of numismatics out there that this fellow has not been exposed to. I see this with a lots of inexperienced coin roll hunters. While they have discovered that wheats can be found in abundance just by searching through pocket change and bank rolls, they have not yet learned of other things that can be found which, if correctly identified, are highly prized and valuable.
Wheat cents are worth 3-4¢ each for common date, circulated examples that would be typically found in bank rolls. Plenty of folks collect wheats and assembling a complete set of 40s and 50s with all mintmarks is entirely possible just from coin roll hunting. If hunting wheats for their value is the objective, there is much more out there that is being missed. I see wheat cents as an incidental perk rather than the primary objective of a hunt.
Here's a sampling of the sort of thing that can be found just from hunting through cents...
WAMs and CAMs
This is the result of the wrong reverse die being used in certain years. WAM is an acronym for Wide AM. It refers to the distance between the letters A and M in America. A circulated 2000 WAM can be sold for around $5. You might find one in your next box. It may take several boxes to find one. It's a sure bet that if you don't check for them you won't find any. Compared to wheats picked out over 10 boxes, perhaps 100 wheats with a marketable value of $3, a single WAM can bring around twice the value. Searching for only three dates (1998/1999/2000) in addition to the wheats can give you nearly 3 times the value vs wheats alone. Since these require little extra effort compared to the leap in value, I have put together an article to better explain WAMs and CAMs and a video to go with it:CHEAT SHEET
To give you a better idea of what is out there, I've put together a Cheat Sheet of die varieties. There are thousands of die varieties that can be found in pocket change, coffee cans and bank rolls. This is a short list and is updated and improved when the whim strikes.
DOUBLED DIE
There are doubled die varieties which are easy to find. Hunt for those as your learn. The skills needed to identify them will help you identify the harder to find and more valuable varieties.PROOF
A Proof is a specially produced coin by the US mint. The dies are hgihly polished, as are the planchets, and the minting process is at a higher level of standards. The result is a distinct and separate class of coin.There are Proof strikes to be found in circulation. They might not look as nice as the example shown, but they are out there. Learn to identify them.
CLASHED DIE
These are easy to identify. The design of the other side of the coin has been partly transferred, giving a coin a distinctive appearance. I explain how this happens and offer some example as part of the Coin Trivia Contest.
Still More
There are small dates, repunched mintmarks, thin planchets, wrong planchets, foreign planchets, die breaks, cuds, flared initials, doubled ears, extra columns, mintmark design varieties, extra thickness of letters and numbers, clear and distinct doubled dies, inverted mintmarks, overstruck mintmarks, brockage errors, capped dies. lathe lines, clipped planchets, die chips, BIEs, transitional design varieties...the list goes on.Over on the right side of this page is a list of link that will take you to the Reader Gallery. These are coins found in circulation. Some things are worth a little. Some are worth a lot. Some are just plain weird.
If all you are doing is searching for wheats and silver, you're leaving the big money behind. Wheats are good for 3¢. WAMs...5 bucks. In a couple of boxes there's a good chance you'll find one.
| Circulated Wheat Cent | 3¢ |
| BU Memorial in the 60s | 10-30¢ |
| Impaired Proof | 25¢-50¢ |
| 1960 Small Date | $1 or more |
| Memorial DDR Class 8 | $1-5 |
| BIE | $1-6 |
| Clashed Die | $1-10+ |
| 2000 WAM | $5-20 |
| 1970-S Small Date | $20 and up |
| 1972 DDO-003 | $10-30 |
| 1983 DDR | $50-100 |
| Decent RPM | $10 |
| 1992-D Close AM | $500-2500 |
| 1969-S DDO | $10k |
That last box of cents you went through had some of these in there. For all the effort, I'd like to think you pulled out more than 50¢ worth of wheats.
There are 2 reasons why people search for wheats rather than die varieties
- They don't know what to look for. There are links on this blog for this.
- They don't know how to look. Kinda the whole point to this blog.
I put out a series of videos which shows my method from start to finish. Everyone has their own method which works for them. There is no Best method. All I can do is offer ideas which may improve your efficiency and results.
You don't have to be lucky. You only need to be persistent. They are out there.
Good Luck and Happy Hunting.
Sunday, September 24, 2017
Coin Trivia Contest
Get the right answer, get a point.
1st person with the right answer gets an extra point.
Most points at the end of the contest wins the prize.
THE PRIZE
Winner will receive a gently preowned copy of Alan Herbert's Official Price Guide to Mint Errors, 6th Edition. I just sold 2 copies of this in less than 12 minutes for 8 bucks each so it's considered Highly Prized.
Added a Canada Cent: 1962, Hanging 2 Die Clash in Brilliant Uncirculated condition
RULES
I reserve the right to amend the rules as I go and to do so arbitrarily and capriciously, but it's a sure bet that the winner will get this book whether he wants it or not.It don't cost you nothing to play.
1 answer per person. After your first answer, any subsequent answers will be ignored.
Some questions may award more points.
Question #3 is in progress.
This one was done in a Livestreaming format to keep things interesting. The answer has several possibilities. 1 point for each correct response means you can earn MANY POINTS.
That oughtta shake things up!
SCOREBOARD
In the lead: Lindsey Slentz
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | TOTAL | |
| Lindsey Slentz | 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||||||
| Todd Carman | 2 | 2 | |||||||||
| Jeffrey Watson | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||||||
| christine criswell-joy | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||||||
| Rokit58 Esquega | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Mikhael Isaac | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Steven Garrett | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Coin Dragon | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Phillip Dalmatoff | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Beth Coddington | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Shirl Bussman | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Matthew Penn | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Superneo123 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Lueds farout | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Matthew Granicke | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| David Bennet | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| jerry holdridge | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| John Salsbery | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Hunter Lubetski | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Nathanael Tripovich | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Chris Hurley | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| SJ's mixed Adventures | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Lueds farout | 1 |
FOR SALE
If you wish to purchase any of the coins in these videos, get a hold of me by email or facebook private message. I'll be sure to explain this further in the next Contest Installment.PREVIOUS QUESTIONS
If you missed out on the contest, you can still test your knowledge.Thursday, September 21, 2017
What Is This Coin Spatula Thing?
There's gotta be tens of thousands of coin roll hunters out there. Facebook groups focused on such peculiar behavior are growing in number, with populations reaching into the several thousands. Some of my favorite coin hunting groups on facebook:
Folks talk about coin roll hunting, varieties, errors, show off stuff they find, and learn more about the hobby every day. Is it a doubled die? Is it an RPM? that sort of thing.
With thousands of known die varieties there is constant pressure to post information about WHAT to look for. I want to get more into the procedure side: HOW to look for varieties.
There's not much out there for tools and equipment. There's loupes and scales along with the regular coin supply products. Tools to make coin roll hunting easier and faster are few and far between. Tim Rathjen at The Stamp & Coin Place has developed a machine that scans coins photographically and sorts them accordingly. See the video: The Machine.
While it's a tremendously capable device with much promise, I think it is not a practical solution for most people who coin roll hunt as a hobby using the space of a table top and a limited budget.
For most folks, a loupe, a lamp, and a listing of die varieties is all that is available, and it's enough to get by. It's a slow process: open the rolls, sort (or not), examine each coin, compare to known examples, then go from there. To make the process more efficient, I choose to sort the coins by decade, then year. I lay out scores of the same date and mintmark, then examine the batch, one coin at a time, then flip them over to inspect the other side. Keep the good stuff, wrap the rejects, repeat.
It's a fact that a more efficient operation would let me inspect more coins in less time without sacrificing accuracy. More coins inspected equates to more chances of finding a valuable coin. If I can knock a minute off the handling time at each step of the process, I can inspect more coins. It stands to reason that my results will improve as I handle more coins...Enter the Coin Spatula.
This is a simple jig (homemade tool) that helps me flip coins quickly. That's all it does. But it saves me a minute or two each time I use it. I've put up 3 videos on how this thing is developing:
Do I need to add a disclaimer about cutting? If you cut yourself while trying to make one of these rigs, I really have to question your decision to try to do anything other than convert oxygen into CO2. Nowhere in these instructions does it say to cut your hand. What are you doing cutting yourself? If you make one of these or dont, I'm not responsible. If you are not responsible, perhaps it would be best to marry someone wealthy and spend all day watching TV.
The finished product should look like similar to the example in the video.
The size on this will hold 100 cents. You can adjust it to suit your needs. If you need stiffer material, check the hardware store. Lauan plywood should work for larger designs, but may require a soft cover. Smaller sizes can work with corrugated cardboard, try a couple of layers.
This is about as simple as it gets. Easy to construct, easier to use. If you have ideas for improvements, I'd love to hear it.
I'm looking into injection molding. If there is demand for this as a commercial product, I'll take it as far as it needs to go.
The next step in the evolution of the idea is to build a device upon which a USB microscope can be mounted. I think it will also improve inspection time when used in conjunction with the Coin Spatula.
Folks talk about coin roll hunting, varieties, errors, show off stuff they find, and learn more about the hobby every day. Is it a doubled die? Is it an RPM? that sort of thing.
With thousands of known die varieties there is constant pressure to post information about WHAT to look for. I want to get more into the procedure side: HOW to look for varieties.
There's not much out there for tools and equipment. There's loupes and scales along with the regular coin supply products. Tools to make coin roll hunting easier and faster are few and far between. Tim Rathjen at The Stamp & Coin Place has developed a machine that scans coins photographically and sorts them accordingly. See the video: The Machine.
While it's a tremendously capable device with much promise, I think it is not a practical solution for most people who coin roll hunt as a hobby using the space of a table top and a limited budget.
For most folks, a loupe, a lamp, and a listing of die varieties is all that is available, and it's enough to get by. It's a slow process: open the rolls, sort (or not), examine each coin, compare to known examples, then go from there. To make the process more efficient, I choose to sort the coins by decade, then year. I lay out scores of the same date and mintmark, then examine the batch, one coin at a time, then flip them over to inspect the other side. Keep the good stuff, wrap the rejects, repeat.
It's a fact that a more efficient operation would let me inspect more coins in less time without sacrificing accuracy. More coins inspected equates to more chances of finding a valuable coin. If I can knock a minute off the handling time at each step of the process, I can inspect more coins. It stands to reason that my results will improve as I handle more coins...Enter the Coin Spatula.
This is a simple jig (homemade tool) that helps me flip coins quickly. That's all it does. But it saves me a minute or two each time I use it. I've put up 3 videos on how this thing is developing:
- Prototype Coin Spatula -First idea, trial and error
- Building Coin Spatula v2.0 -Measure, cut, glue, real easy
- Testing The Improved Coin Spatula v2.0 -Does it work? Sure does.
MAKE YOUR OWN
Materials used in construction:
20" x 30" x 3/8" Foam Board, Walmart, $3
20" x 30" x 3/8" Foam Board, Walmart, $3
Elmer's Glue, Walmart, $2
Do I need to add a disclaimer about cutting? If you cut yourself while trying to make one of these rigs, I really have to question your decision to try to do anything other than convert oxygen into CO2. Nowhere in these instructions does it say to cut your hand. What are you doing cutting yourself? If you make one of these or dont, I'm not responsible. If you are not responsible, perhaps it would be best to marry someone wealthy and spend all day watching TV.
The finished product should look like similar to the example in the video.
 |
| Single Piece |
 |
| 2 Pieces make a complete tool |
The size on this will hold 100 cents. You can adjust it to suit your needs. If you need stiffer material, check the hardware store. Lauan plywood should work for larger designs, but may require a soft cover. Smaller sizes can work with corrugated cardboard, try a couple of layers.
This is about as simple as it gets. Easy to construct, easier to use. If you have ideas for improvements, I'd love to hear it.
FURTHER DEVELOPMENT
I'm looking into injection molding. If there is demand for this as a commercial product, I'll take it as far as it needs to go.
The next step in the evolution of the idea is to build a device upon which a USB microscope can be mounted. I think it will also improve inspection time when used in conjunction with the Coin Spatula.
Tuesday, September 12, 2017
Riders Of The Storm
I'm sitting here typing with a hurricane bearing down on me. I've done what I can to prepare the house. I've packed away every coin I own in a manner that is safe or recoverable. The only thing left to to do is put myself into safe storage. Hurricanes are slow disasters with several days warning. While the path of the storm, winds and rain totals can be predicted, the exact results won't be known until I return to see if my little house is still standing. I may be able to get on with my life. Alternately, the house may be destroyed, in which case, I will still get on with my life, albeit in a different direction.
Currently, the house is paid for and the bills are low. Buying and selling coins makes it possible to pay all my bills without a full time job. If I need to bear the expense of an apartment, along with water and sewer bills, at least a part time job would be needed while I continue to build my coin enterprise. If faced with the prospect of starting over, I suppose I will do ok. I have family I can stay with until we drive each other crazy. I have a job which brings good paying work a few times a year. Take away any part of the equation, and no matter how I look at it, the coins offer a tremendous advantage: Hope.
I've talked to plenty of people over the years, offering encouragement to develop a side income separate from employment. Investing in real estate or precious metals or some other opportunity is talked about. Getting a business going, be it a diner or selling crafts at flea markets or installing window tinting...anything will work, as long as you are good at it. Most folks don't. That breaks my heart. There is so much opportunity out there to be seized upon if only one would jump at it. There may not be a fortune to be made, but improving one's situation is a matter of effort and activity. In my experience, simply making the attempt is usually enough to bring results.
Coins offer a unique opportunity. It's more knowledge based rather than capital based. One does not need a lot of money. If I want to open another restaurant, I'll need tens of thousands of dollars. If I want to buy an apartment complex, I'll need a big sack of cash and a line of credit. When it comes to coins, the more one KNOWS, the better the results. Cash helps, but you can get the cash without investing thousands. An investment of a few hundred sure would help. I'll need to give first priority to protecting from the storm those things that make it possible to get the coin operation back up and running in short order. With a few pieces of equipment, all I need to start making sales are a few coins. I can get those from coin roll hunting.
Camera
Tripod
USB Microscope
Laptop
Printer
Loupes
Books and Reference Material
Flips
Coin Scale
Postal Scale
With the equipment in this list I can make videos, post articles in my blog, stay in touch with all the fine people in the coin groups, take good quality photos of coins to post for sale or auction, and print up shipping labels. If it was all lost, $500 would replace most of it.
If all my coins were scattered far and wide by a tornado, I could get started again with around 30 bucks for a box of cents and some wrappers. I always find a few wheats. I see people in coin videos get excited with each wheat they find. It breaks my heart to see the rest of the coins tossed in the reject bucket. The money is not in the wheats, it's in the die varieties, and there are plenty of them out there. If I don't double my money on a box of cents I got skunked. Coin Roll Hunting gives me seed capital which I can put to good use: I hunt for coins at a good price, flip them for a quick profit, repeat. A key aspect of my operation in leaving the money in the coin account, reinvesting and repeating until I have a considerable surplus of cash. That's when I can take a profit, expand my selection to another series, or stock up on supplies. I keep a personal account to handle my household bills. I have at least enough in there to cover my expenses for a few months. I'm not selling coins to pay my electric bill. This invites desperation which inevitably brings costly mistakes. The coin account is seperate and must survive on its own.
If I did lose everything to a storm, I would still need a place to live and either savings or employment income to pay my bills. The coin enterprise can be restarted inexpensively. Once the ball starts rolling, I keep it going by reinvesting in marketable coins and necessary supplies. This week, a package of kraft envelopes. Next week, a case of flips. The week after, a ream of shipping labels. Each purchase gives me greater efficiency by reducing my cost per unit. When the time is right, step up to a case of padded mailers instead of the kraft envelopes. There are not many different supplies, and they are not prohibitively expensive, but buying small quantities of anything usually brings the highest price.
Lets put some numbers behind all this to figure out how much I'll need to regain my independence.
Let's go with the idea of $25 being a typical sale. For the sake of discussion, figure I net $5 on a $25 sale. That's 20% after paying for supplies, paypal fees, shipping. If that's all I'm earning on a $25 sale I'd be doing a poor job, but this makes it a conservative figure. $20 invested gets me $25 back. I'll need to reinvest $20 if I am to keep $5 and repeat the process. If I want to net $50 per day, I need 10 sales per day. Each sale requires a $20 investment, so each day of sales requires a $200 investment. From the time I buy a coin to the time I sell it and have the money in my paypal account is about a week. It can be longer, but to come up with a minimum amount, 7 days at $200/day says I need an investment of $1400 to earn $50/day. Repeat the process 4 times in a month, I earn $1500 in net each month from a $1400 investment.
These figures are back of the envelope ballpark estimates used to come up with some idea of the scale of the operation I would need. Experience shows I do better than 20% and it usually takes longer than 7 days to flip a coin. The fact that my monthly expenses are considerably less than $1500/month suggests a daily goal of 10 sales or $250 in total sales should be sufficient to allow me to recover from a storm.
The next step in this is to take the storm out of the equation.
Fire burns down the house...I'll be able to recover.
Lose/quit job ✓
Break leg, can't work ✓
Volcano ✓
Earthquake ✓
Flood ✓
Eviction ✓
Forest fire ✓
Landslide ✓
Tsunami ✓
Extinction Level Asteroid...still working on that one.
Currently, the house is paid for and the bills are low. Buying and selling coins makes it possible to pay all my bills without a full time job. If I need to bear the expense of an apartment, along with water and sewer bills, at least a part time job would be needed while I continue to build my coin enterprise. If faced with the prospect of starting over, I suppose I will do ok. I have family I can stay with until we drive each other crazy. I have a job which brings good paying work a few times a year. Take away any part of the equation, and no matter how I look at it, the coins offer a tremendous advantage: Hope.
I've talked to plenty of people over the years, offering encouragement to develop a side income separate from employment. Investing in real estate or precious metals or some other opportunity is talked about. Getting a business going, be it a diner or selling crafts at flea markets or installing window tinting...anything will work, as long as you are good at it. Most folks don't. That breaks my heart. There is so much opportunity out there to be seized upon if only one would jump at it. There may not be a fortune to be made, but improving one's situation is a matter of effort and activity. In my experience, simply making the attempt is usually enough to bring results.
Coins offer a unique opportunity. It's more knowledge based rather than capital based. One does not need a lot of money. If I want to open another restaurant, I'll need tens of thousands of dollars. If I want to buy an apartment complex, I'll need a big sack of cash and a line of credit. When it comes to coins, the more one KNOWS, the better the results. Cash helps, but you can get the cash without investing thousands. An investment of a few hundred sure would help. I'll need to give first priority to protecting from the storm those things that make it possible to get the coin operation back up and running in short order. With a few pieces of equipment, all I need to start making sales are a few coins. I can get those from coin roll hunting.
Camera
Tripod
USB Microscope
Laptop
Printer
Loupes
Books and Reference Material
Flips
Coin Scale
Postal Scale
With the equipment in this list I can make videos, post articles in my blog, stay in touch with all the fine people in the coin groups, take good quality photos of coins to post for sale or auction, and print up shipping labels. If it was all lost, $500 would replace most of it.
If all my coins were scattered far and wide by a tornado, I could get started again with around 30 bucks for a box of cents and some wrappers. I always find a few wheats. I see people in coin videos get excited with each wheat they find. It breaks my heart to see the rest of the coins tossed in the reject bucket. The money is not in the wheats, it's in the die varieties, and there are plenty of them out there. If I don't double my money on a box of cents I got skunked. Coin Roll Hunting gives me seed capital which I can put to good use: I hunt for coins at a good price, flip them for a quick profit, repeat. A key aspect of my operation in leaving the money in the coin account, reinvesting and repeating until I have a considerable surplus of cash. That's when I can take a profit, expand my selection to another series, or stock up on supplies. I keep a personal account to handle my household bills. I have at least enough in there to cover my expenses for a few months. I'm not selling coins to pay my electric bill. This invites desperation which inevitably brings costly mistakes. The coin account is seperate and must survive on its own.
If I did lose everything to a storm, I would still need a place to live and either savings or employment income to pay my bills. The coin enterprise can be restarted inexpensively. Once the ball starts rolling, I keep it going by reinvesting in marketable coins and necessary supplies. This week, a package of kraft envelopes. Next week, a case of flips. The week after, a ream of shipping labels. Each purchase gives me greater efficiency by reducing my cost per unit. When the time is right, step up to a case of padded mailers instead of the kraft envelopes. There are not many different supplies, and they are not prohibitively expensive, but buying small quantities of anything usually brings the highest price.
Lets put some numbers behind all this to figure out how much I'll need to regain my independence.
Let's go with the idea of $25 being a typical sale. For the sake of discussion, figure I net $5 on a $25 sale. That's 20% after paying for supplies, paypal fees, shipping. If that's all I'm earning on a $25 sale I'd be doing a poor job, but this makes it a conservative figure. $20 invested gets me $25 back. I'll need to reinvest $20 if I am to keep $5 and repeat the process. If I want to net $50 per day, I need 10 sales per day. Each sale requires a $20 investment, so each day of sales requires a $200 investment. From the time I buy a coin to the time I sell it and have the money in my paypal account is about a week. It can be longer, but to come up with a minimum amount, 7 days at $200/day says I need an investment of $1400 to earn $50/day. Repeat the process 4 times in a month, I earn $1500 in net each month from a $1400 investment.
These figures are back of the envelope ballpark estimates used to come up with some idea of the scale of the operation I would need. Experience shows I do better than 20% and it usually takes longer than 7 days to flip a coin. The fact that my monthly expenses are considerably less than $1500/month suggests a daily goal of 10 sales or $250 in total sales should be sufficient to allow me to recover from a storm.
The next step in this is to take the storm out of the equation.
Fire burns down the house...I'll be able to recover.
Lose/quit job ✓
Break leg, can't work ✓
Volcano ✓
Earthquake ✓
Flood ✓
Eviction ✓
Forest fire ✓
Landslide ✓
Tsunami ✓
Extinction Level Asteroid...still working on that one.
Saturday, September 2, 2017
Another Checklist Added
Over on the right of the page is a link to the FILES section.
There you'll find several collector checklists.
The latest addition is for Kennedy Half Dollars.
Copy it, print it, have at it.
Friday, September 1, 2017
Coin Video Chat
These livestreams on YouTube by Dustin Morgan, Justin Couch, Sylvia J and others has me looking further into technology and how it can impact the hobby. I'm not talking about technology being developed, but those devices we already have available.
Our daily lives have changed greatly in just the last 10 years. Phones used to flip open and have buttons. They were used to call people. When you hung up, it was folded and stuffed in your pocket. They're a little more versatile now. You can make home movies on the things. When I grew up there was 1 phone in the house. It was black, weighed about 12 pounds, had about 5 feet of cord, and if you were talking to someone 100 miles away you had to yell.
10 years ago I had a desktop computer. It was called a desktop because that's the amount of real estate it covered. Between the monitor, tower, keyboard, mouse, and speakers, there was not much space left on the desktop. I saw this as great progress because 30 years ago I had a manual typewriter.
These technologies take a few years to move from development to niche market and finally to widespread use. The past couple of years has seen an explosion in digital camera quality. Combine these cameras with increased broadband access and you've got video phones. Phones, laptops, USB cameras...they are affordable, functional, and widespread.
I talk to my family as often as I dare. I shave first, and put on a clean shirt.
Now take it to the next level, add a few thousand people in a single coin group on facebook. Now you have an endless number of people to chat with, and a common subject to chat about. I tried an experiment the other day with 4 other people involved, 5 of us total. 1 fellow did not have the camera activated, but could talk along with the rest of us. For the most part, it worked pretty well. Being an experiment, we did not have a selected subject to discuss so there were a few periods of quiet. Nonetheless, we still found plenty of common ground and ended up talking coins for over an hour.
It's not unlike having 5 interactive livestreams going. I was quite impressed with the potential this venue offers: A close gathering of like minded people in a video chat with a common purpose can add another level of communication to the hobby. I should like to do a Q&A chat. Perhaps a chat about coin holders one night with some new collectors. Another day, have a brief talk about selling coins and how to get started.
Being an experiment, the first video chat showed some issues that need to be addressed to make for a smoother chat. It would help if everyone involved understood that their are protocols that can be followed to improve the experience for all.
Background Noise
When a user's microphone picks up a sound, that sound is broadcast to the group. It also supercedes whatever else is being broadcast. Jack is talking, John drops a coin. The facebook chat software kills Jack's signal in favor of John's coin. The result is a lot of interruption. A better chat is found when background noise for each person involved is reduced to s minimum.
Don't Everyone Speak At Once
As with the background noise, if Jack is speaking and John starts to speak, Jack gets shut out. Then if Alice chimes in, she gets priority. With several people involved, it may be useful to set up an order, with each person speaking in turn.
How Many People
This would be dependent on the speed of the slowest connection. Bring in too many people, the machines get overwhelmed. I've tried this with 2 people, 3 people, and as many as 5 people. So far so good.
Talking Points
Eliminate dead air time by creating a list of talking points ahead of time. Keep the chat moving. Dead air is wasting the time of everyone involved. In a Q&A session, have your questions at the ready. A little bit of planning can turn a chat into a productive session.
Test Equipment First
If you want to switch from one camera to another, test it first to see if it works before getting into a chat and finding out then that it won't work. A 2 minute chat with someone will find this out for you. Check the background of what your camera will be pointed at.
Ending the Chat
I have found that once a chat is ended, Google Chrome needs to be shut down and restarted before another begins. Could be the way my computer is configured. You'll find out eventually what subtle nuances the software requires.
Future Possibilities
Imagine if the software could handle several cameras, and hundreds of people. Lectures, classes, presentations all become possible, with real time video interaction. This is already possible with a few people. I think it would be incredible to do with dozens, scores, or hundreds.
How about a Live Coin Auction every Monday Night at 8PM? That would be interesting.
All this makes me wonder where we'll be in another 10 years.
Our daily lives have changed greatly in just the last 10 years. Phones used to flip open and have buttons. They were used to call people. When you hung up, it was folded and stuffed in your pocket. They're a little more versatile now. You can make home movies on the things. When I grew up there was 1 phone in the house. It was black, weighed about 12 pounds, had about 5 feet of cord, and if you were talking to someone 100 miles away you had to yell.
 |
| Texting, back in the day |
These technologies take a few years to move from development to niche market and finally to widespread use. The past couple of years has seen an explosion in digital camera quality. Combine these cameras with increased broadband access and you've got video phones. Phones, laptops, USB cameras...they are affordable, functional, and widespread.
I talk to my family as often as I dare. I shave first, and put on a clean shirt.
Now take it to the next level, add a few thousand people in a single coin group on facebook. Now you have an endless number of people to chat with, and a common subject to chat about. I tried an experiment the other day with 4 other people involved, 5 of us total. 1 fellow did not have the camera activated, but could talk along with the rest of us. For the most part, it worked pretty well. Being an experiment, we did not have a selected subject to discuss so there were a few periods of quiet. Nonetheless, we still found plenty of common ground and ended up talking coins for over an hour.
It's not unlike having 5 interactive livestreams going. I was quite impressed with the potential this venue offers: A close gathering of like minded people in a video chat with a common purpose can add another level of communication to the hobby. I should like to do a Q&A chat. Perhaps a chat about coin holders one night with some new collectors. Another day, have a brief talk about selling coins and how to get started.
Being an experiment, the first video chat showed some issues that need to be addressed to make for a smoother chat. It would help if everyone involved understood that their are protocols that can be followed to improve the experience for all.
Background Noise
When a user's microphone picks up a sound, that sound is broadcast to the group. It also supercedes whatever else is being broadcast. Jack is talking, John drops a coin. The facebook chat software kills Jack's signal in favor of John's coin. The result is a lot of interruption. A better chat is found when background noise for each person involved is reduced to s minimum.
Don't Everyone Speak At Once
As with the background noise, if Jack is speaking and John starts to speak, Jack gets shut out. Then if Alice chimes in, she gets priority. With several people involved, it may be useful to set up an order, with each person speaking in turn.
How Many People
This would be dependent on the speed of the slowest connection. Bring in too many people, the machines get overwhelmed. I've tried this with 2 people, 3 people, and as many as 5 people. So far so good.
Talking Points
Eliminate dead air time by creating a list of talking points ahead of time. Keep the chat moving. Dead air is wasting the time of everyone involved. In a Q&A session, have your questions at the ready. A little bit of planning can turn a chat into a productive session.
Test Equipment First
If you want to switch from one camera to another, test it first to see if it works before getting into a chat and finding out then that it won't work. A 2 minute chat with someone will find this out for you. Check the background of what your camera will be pointed at.
Ending the Chat
I have found that once a chat is ended, Google Chrome needs to be shut down and restarted before another begins. Could be the way my computer is configured. You'll find out eventually what subtle nuances the software requires.
Future Possibilities
Imagine if the software could handle several cameras, and hundreds of people. Lectures, classes, presentations all become possible, with real time video interaction. This is already possible with a few people. I think it would be incredible to do with dozens, scores, or hundreds.
How about a Live Coin Auction every Monday Night at 8PM? That would be interesting.
All this makes me wonder where we'll be in another 10 years.
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