Tip for searching through pocket change...

[coppercoins]

Here's three steps that will help you go through a pile of pocket change, oh say 10,000 strong...

1. Sort the coins by date - looking through coins of a given date rather than mixed date batches gives you sense of what normal coins of a particular date look like so you can pick out the smaller differences. Your eye gets used to looking at them so you can pick out the oddities more easily.

2. Go through all of them obverse first, then reverse, if possible. For the same reason as above, it gives you a good sense of what a normal obverse looks like if you look through a group of them together. Looking through the coins obverse and reverse one at a time isn't as useful, but sometimes it's all you have.

3. Pull anything out you are unsure of. Keep it aside for a day or so, then look at it again. If it's still just as impressive the next day, compare it against normal coins again to make sure you've got something odd. If you see it repeated time and time again, you probably have something normal that you haven't noticed before.

And there you have it. That's the most fail safe method I have found to get the goodies out of the piles of copper.

[errorfinder]

just;a thank-you. sometimes we don't hear it enough..so here is your's.

[rollmeupabe]

Great insights Chuck. When I first started I used to look at mixed dates and both the obverse and reverse. Then I read your book about sorting and searching and started to look by year and mint mark.

I also find it a grind to look through years that have very little possibility. If I search 500 coins an find nothing it is tough to search another 500 again soon. I created a template for sorting to focus on the years & mints that have the most varieties identified. I noted for each year / mint how many business strike DDO, DDR or RPMs there are. I also put in colors for years / mints which have highly valued varieties.

I am sure it is not precise but it helps me to focus on years when I know I will have some hits and keep the energy level high for searching. If anyone would like a copy let me know your e-mail and I will send it along.