Friday, January 5, 2018

5 EASY WAYS: To Protect Your Coins

○○●○○


Without protection, your collection is at risk and your coins are losing value every day!
Here are 5 easy ways to protect your investment. 


No two people will have identical fingerprints. But no matter how unique your fingerprints may be, you probably don't want them appearing on you collectable coins. By wearing gloves while handling your collection, you will keep the oils on your skin from transferring onto the surface of your coins. This will protect your coins by preventing unsightly, and permanent, fingerprint blemishes from appearing on your coins.


(click images)

Small

Medium

Large

Extra Large



It happens so quickly. You've put hours of effort into crafting your first type/date set and it looks great in that coin folder. Time to show it off. You open the folder to show your best friend and then, it happens. They sneeze! A fine mist of snot and spit assaults the brilliant surfaces of your coins. And, over the next few years you will watch permanent spots and blemishes develope across your entire collection. Too bad. But, this doesn't have to happen to you! Transfer your hard won collections from open-faced coin folders into sleeve covered coin binders. You'll also enjoy viewing the reverse side of your coins. 



Are you still storing your coins in a shoebox under the bed? You might not realize your collection is constantly degrading. By sealing your coins into coin holders you can slow down discoloration damage. Also, you'll enjoy handling your coins more since they're protected in coin holders and you won't need to wear gloves.

PROTECT YOUR COINS
FROM EXPOSURE
IMMEDIATELY!

(click here)



What do pets and children have in common? Each will eat your collection! Besides posing a potential choking hazard, nothing tones a coin quite like digestive juices. So, unless you like coin roll hunting with a potato masher, protect your collection with a display case. Besides getting your collection up high and away from the cute and curious, you might even find yourself sharing your collection with guests.

PROTECT YOUR COINS
FROM CHAOS
PRONTO!

(click here)



If you're heavily invested in your coin collection you should protect it with a fireproof safe. Not only will a great safe keep your collection protected against thieves, it will also protect it from disaster. Your coins will probably not be top of mind after a catastrophe but you'll appreciate your forthought afterwards.


(click here)


Find Matthew on:
Instagram   @
coinrollin411

Contact me:

Thursday, November 16, 2017

5 EASY WAYS: To Improve Your Coin Collection


By Matthew The Great Coin Roll Hunter
○○●○○

To improve presentation, try using professional-grade coin albums.

For those just entering the hobby, push-to-lock coin folders are a great way to start out. However, as your interest and collection grow, you will find that professional coin albums have some excellent advantages over coin folders. Notably, they feature clear plastic slides that provide protection and allow you to view both sides of your coins. You will also appreciate the removable binding pins that allow you to add new pages.


   To improve visual appeal, try to create a series with the same grading level.

While upgrading is a common practice, higher grades of key dates can break the bank or may simply be unavailable. There are many different grading levels for wear and focusing on a single series in your collection can yield some satisfying results. By adjusting all the coins in a series to a similar or even lower grade, you will be able to fill empty holes and stay within your budget. Ultimatly, this strategy will create eye-pleasing continuity across the series.


 To improve variety, try adding some commemorative coins.

Strikes for commemorative coins celebrate significant events and influential people. However, you won't typically find these coins in circulation. Some will be colorized or minted with precious metals and many are set in beautiful display boxes with Certificates of Authenticity. The subject matter and attention to details make these coins a fun way to connect with history.


     To improve potential value, try adding   precious metal bullion coins.

Collecting bullion, known as stacking, is a fun way to invest. It is important to understand that metal composition creates the value for bullion coins. This is in contrast to most coins used as currency which are valued for thier numismatic prominence. Ultimatly, values for bullion coins are set by the current market price for the metal they are made of rather than their age or strike. Bullion coins can make a great addition to your collection by creating value over time but, there is also a risk of losing value due to changes in the market. With that in mind, bullion coins are available in a variety of fun strikes and sizes to accommodate every budget. 


      To improve diversity, become a numismatic globe-trotter.

There is a whole world of exotic coins out there for you to explore. For the curious collector, a quick flick through the foreign coin bin of your local coin shop could ignite a life-long passion and for only a few dollars! There are many different coin sets you could assemble using world coins. Try making a small coin type set from your favorite country or collect a coin from every country that makes them. 


However you choose to collect, remember to keep it fun and keep what you like.
 

Find Matthew on:
Instagram   @
coinrollin411

Contact me:

5 FREE APPS: For Coin Roll Hunters!

By Matthew The Great Coin Roll Hunter
○○●○○

Coinoscope is a visual search engine 
that uses your camera to identify 
unknown coins.


At some point every coin roll hunter has stumbled upon a coin they could not identify. Coinoscope aims to make the research process easier. Use this app to capture an image of the coin and it will analyze the visual data to generate a list of similar coins. Click on any coin in the list to learn more and quickly identify your mystery coin.


Get immediate access to the 
largest online encyclopedia of 
U.S. coins, in the world!


Download this app to put a powerhouse of numismatic knowledge into your pocket. Thanks to the PCGS CoinFacts mobile app, you will have the best information at hand when deciding how to sell or trade your rare U.S. coin finds. With instant access to the latest coin values, images, narratives, auction prices realized and so much more, you can explore more than 39,000 U.S. coins as you wait in line at the bank.


A quick guide for irregular coinage.


Follow the link in this app to learn more about mint errors and damaged coins. With images, descriptions and price guides, this website will improve your knowledge and identification skills so that you won't miss one of these rare and interesting coins during your next coin roll hunt.


Organize data for your entire collection 
and take it with you wherever you go.


Use your camera or photo gallery to capture images of your coins and display them in this digital coin album. You can organize coins from any country into customizable sets and create general lists by year. Record meta data for each coin to show statistics throughout your entire collection and search for individual coins by specific attributes. 


A fun game that puts your 
numismatic knowledge to the test.


Race the timer to correctly answer multiple-choice questions and set high scores. With more than 60 questions on this app, you will enjoy quizzing yourself and your friends.


Find Matthew on:
Instagram  @
coinrollin411

Contact me:



Saturday, March 18, 2017

BARBADOS ONE DOLLAR COIN!



The Barbadian One Dollar Coin
By Matthew The Great Coin Roll Hunter

Barbados is located about 250 miles north-east of Trinidad. It is completely surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean and the easternmost island nation in the Caribbean.

Historically, the country's economy was supported by the sugarcane trade however, over the last 30 years, manufacturing, information technology, and services such as tourism and offshore financing, have grown substantially to create a diverse and stable modern economy for this small island nation. Barbados has even been listed as one of Canada's top 5 destinations for foreign capital!

The unit of currency used in Barbados is based on the Dollar, which is divided into one hundred cents. Coinage is available in 1, 5, 10, and 25 cent pieces as well as a $1 coin. Such as the specimen featured here.

The Barbadian Dollar that is still in use today is considered part of the Barbados - Commonwealth era that encompasses 1966 to the present.

After the establishment of the Central Bank of Barbados in 1972, the Barbadian Dollar officially replaced the East Caribbean dollar at equal value one year later. In 1975, the new Barbadian Dollar was then attached to the US dollar at a range of $1 US. to $2 Barbadian Dollars.

The coin in our example is known as a Barbadian One Dollar - Elizabeth II, small type; non-magnetic coin. It is composed of a copper-nickel alloy called, Cupronickel and weighs approximately 6.32 grams. This coin has a diameter of 25.85 mm, a thickness of 1.63 mm, and features an equilaterally curved heptagonal rim. Meaning, it has 7 equal sides which are slightly curved.

This specimen was minted at the Royal Canadian Mint but, does not feature any kind of mint mark. The edges are smooth and plain.

The Obverse side of this coin features a design of the National Arms of Barbados.

This design was first adopted on February 14, 1966 by a royal warrant of Queen Elizabeth II, and features twin images of the national flower of Barbados called, the Pride of Barbados. Centered on a shield is a single bearded fig tree. A dolphin fish and a pelican support the shield and arms above a banner that reads, "PRIDE AND INDUSTRY".

Bookending the National Arms design are the numbers, "19" and "94", which references the date 1994 when the coin was minted.

The country's name, "BARBADOS" curves along the lower rim of the coin and beaded circle encloses each design on both sides of the coin.

The Reverse design of the 1994 Barbadian Dollar features the flying fish, which is the national fish of Barbados.

The words, "ONE DOLLAR" curve along the lower rim of the coin.

The mintage for this coin is somewhere around 3,145,000.

Thank you all for joining me on this fantastic Numismatic Adventure!

Keep growing your numismatic knowledge with this great book: Moder World Coins

A special thanks to Marsh for generously sharing his foreign coin collection with us.
Stay tuned for more!

Don't forget to check me out on YouTube, and until next time, this has been, Matthew The Great Coin Roll Hunter wishing you,
Happy Hunting!


Wednesday, March 1, 2017

WHY IS MY COIN WRAPPER MARKED?

Welcome back, Coin Roll Hunters!

This is Matthew, The Great Coin Roll Hunter and today I'm answering a question from a reader.

      From: Thomas

          "I went to the bank and asked the teller for two rolls of pennies. A machine wrapped roll and a hand wrapped roll but when I got home I saw the hand wrapped roll had a mark on it. What does that mean?"

Great question, Thomas!

I also received a hand-wrapped roll with a mark on it.

Here is what I found:



As you can see, I picked up quarters instead of pennies but, I think the same logic will apply.

Without an image, I was unable to determine exactly what type of mark you had on your coin wrapper. So, follow along with me as I examine the similar instance I encountered on my roll of quarters and apply it to your own roll of pennies.

First, let's take a look at the condition of the wrapper.

Does the wrapper look well-worn and previously used?

Let's identify what kind of paper wrapper we're dealing with and why it is used.

What we have here, with my roll of quarters, is a partially crimped, open-ended wrapper which is typically used with a small Rapid Coin Sorting Machine.

This gives me some hope because there are a few reasons why someone would choose to use a machine like this to wrap their coins.

1) Closing out a cash register till by simply dumping the loose chang into the machine and letting it sort and count it out for you, quickly. In this case, no one is paying close attention to what's going into the hopper and are more concerned with the value of the change as currency. Good news for coin roll hunters like ourselves.

2) Someone could have received this as a gift or bought it for themselves. They place it on their kitchen counter or their dresser as a way of easily sorting out the day's loose change. Again, no one is paying close attention to what's going in and this is great news for coin roll hunters.

Typically, coin roll hunters would be dealing with a single type of coin at a time, and it would not be necessary to use such a machine to process these large amounts of coins, though it could always be possible. First of all, the type of wrappers this machine uses cost more than a flat coin wrapper, which is open on both ends and costs less money. This would make more sense because a coin roll hunter would need a lot of wrappers.

If your wrapper is a partially crimped, open-ended wrapper like the one on my roll of quarters, you might still have luck finding something in it. Unless the folded over flaps of the open end look worn, with either type of wrapper.

Let's take a closer look at the open end flaps in the upper left-hand image, above.
Concerning my own quarter roll, the flaps look very well-worn indeed.

What's that mean? 
Well, it simply means that the flaps have been opened and closed many times. Again, there could be a couple of reasons for this.

1) They have been recycled. At the beginning of the day, someone opening the till of their cash register simply dumped the coins into the tray and then reloaded the wrapper after they closed out. These types of wrapper are more expensive, remember, so it doesn't make sense to just break them open and throw them away. So, there might be some goodies in there.

On the other hand...

2) Another coin roll hunter requested them so he could search them and re-wrap them. Once again, they are dealing with a large quantity of coins and don't want to lose money on buying new wrappers. So, in this case, there might not be anything at all worth keeping in the roll.

So, wrapper type and condition, still might not be enough to tell what exactly you've got. Let's keep asking questions.

Does the mark look like it was placed intentionally?
Look closely at the upper right-hand image.

This mark was made with a pen and two separate lines that seem to form a letter D. Two marks in that kind of formation seem intentional to me, as if someone may have put their initial on it. Possibly, marking it off for some reason.

With concerns to the mark on your wrapper, I have seen many different types of intentional marks.
- A black marker stripe along the length of the roll
- Two letters, indicating a first and last name initial
- a check mark
- and a squiggly line in pen down the length of the wrapper.

In my experience, there seem to be three types of marks on wrappers: letters, lines and inccidentals. Let's get into each.

Letters
Letters could possibly be used by a cashier to verify the amount of coin inside the roll.
In this way, they might use their initials to sign-off on the contents of the roll in a way that shows they are accountable for verifying the contents of the roll.

This could happen when someone in a business is closing out of a cash register after their shift or making a counter deposit at the bank from the company's vault.

Another way a coin might be marked with a letter, could be a collector labeling the roll for a specific mint mark. In this case you would expect to see a: P, D, or S. In the case of my roll of quarters, there is a D. A collector could have been labeling a collection of quarters from the Denver Mint. Unfortunatly, when we went though these quarters, they were mixed marks. Which indicates to me that, maybe a collector did in fact turn in his collection to a bank, but someone has beaten me to them and re-used the wrapper. But, this would typically be a good sign on a hand-wrapped roll.

Hopefully, your roll shows this type of coin wrapper mark. This would indicate that it would contain coins from circulation that have not been searched.

Lines
Concerning the other type. Lines running along the length of the wrapper.
These lines tend to be noticeable from a distance. Thick, black marker lines, or scribbles.

The case for this type of wrapper mark could indicate that your bank might be a coin dump for another coin roll hunter in the area. The intention is to mark the wrapper in such a way, making it easily identifiable, so they know they have already searched that roll before and taken all the "goodies" out of it.

Other indicators for this type of behavior will be quantity. Productive coin roll hunters will order boxes of rolled coins and return them to the bank after they have searched through them. If they do come back for a smaller amount, they don't want to exchange their cash for rolls they have already searched for.

So, Thomas, if your mark runs the length of the roll, chances are you have a "skunk". Meaning, it stinks because you won't find anything worth keeping.

This is code for many coin roll hunters. But, it simply will not work 100% of the time, because wrappers can still be re-used if they are not broken.

So, you still have a chance!

Incidentals
These types of marks happen by accident. Usually, when someone is holding a pen to write a total.

1) They might point at each roll with the tip of the pen as they are counting, leaving little tic marks on the wrapper that don't necessarily mean anything.

2) The wrapper was stained by something and it looks like a mark or marker. Someone poured themselves coffee at the bank and a little bit of coffee dribbled down the edge of the mug. Then, for one reason or another, they could have set the mug on an open box of coins leaving a coffee ring along the edges of the wrappers that appears to be a brown marker mark.

3) Dirty fingers, maybe someone's pen leaked and they marked the rolls simply by handling them.

Any way it happens, they are usually unintentional and don't mean anything with regards to the contents inside. If you see marks like these, you're still in luck!

Now, let's get right down the meat of it, and dissect this roll!:

CLICK HERE TO SEARCH THIS MARKED ROLL OF QUARTERS!

So, I hope that answered your question, Thomas.
And, Welcome to the Coin Roll Hunt!

Be sure to keep growing your numismatic knowledge with these great books!
1) A Guide Book of United States Coins 
2) The Complete Guide to Lincoln Cents

Happy Hunting!

~Matthew, The Great Coin Roll Hunter
CoinRollin411@gmail.com
Matthew The Great Coin Roll Hunter on YouTube





Monday, February 27, 2017

BIRTHDAY COIN COLLECTION: COIN ROLL HUNTING FOR A 1983 D WASHINGTON QUARTER

Welcome back, Coin Roll Hunters!

We have had quite the adventure exploring our birthday coin collection.
Let's see how we are doing on our list...

1983 D -Penny
1983 D - Nickel
1983 D - Dime
1983 D - Quarter
1983 D - Half Dollar

Today, we will be searching three rolls of quarters for a 1983 D Washington Quarter!

Pick a roll to search:
Roll 1: Customer-Wrapped Roll
Roll 2: Bank-Wrapped Roll
Roll 3: Bank-Wrapped Roll

I hope you like the new coin roll hunting set up.
Now you're in control of the coin roll hunting experience.
Comment below to let me know what you thing.

Now, on to our find!


When you first encounter a new coin, it's important to learn some basic numismatic information.

Ask yourself these 5 simple questions:

1) What type of coin is this?
    By looking at the reverse side, we can see the phrase "Quarter Dollar" below the image of the eagle. Sure, this all seems very basic, but it's also very important. Out of all the coins this could be, we have now narrowed it down to one very specific group.

Now we know that we have a quarter. Not a penny, a nickel or a dime, but, a quarter.

So, let's get specific.

2) What type of Quarter is this?
     This question may seem a bit confusing at first, as you might not have realized that the quarter, as we know it today, used to look very different.

This is a great time to reference our guide book:
A Guide Book of United States Coins: The Official Red Book

With our guide book at hand, turn to the section about quarters.
Here you will see all the different designs that the quarter has had in the past.

One way to narrow down our search for what type of quarter we have is to look at the date on the obverse side of our coin.

This one reads, 1983.

Now, look up the date, 1983 in the quarter section of our guidebook.
Follow the dates backward with your finger, 1982, 1981, 1980, keep going until you reach the design header. It will read, "WASHINGTON (1932 TO DATE)"

Here you will see why we call this type of quarter a "Washington Quarter."

In 1932 the design of Standing Liberty was replaced by a portrait of the first President of the United States of America, George Washington.

Now we know we have a Washington Quarter!

3) Which mint produced our 1983 Washington Quarter?
     We have already had some practice looking for mint marks. So, you will know what type of mint marks to look for and what each one will indicate.

Bring out your magnifying glass.

Closely examine the obverse side of our Washington Quarter.
Did you find it?
You will spot the mint mark just behind his neck.

The coin in this example shows a "D".

Now we know that our 1983 D Washington Quarter was minted at the Denver Mint in Colorado!

4) What is the composition of our coin?
     We have already explored the composition of nickels and searched for silver in dimes. So, you might already realize that coins can be made of many different types of metals.

So, what is our Washington Quarter made of?
Once again, we will refer to our guide book.

You will notice that in the description for the first Washington Quarter, you will see that the coins from 1932 to 1964 were composed of 90% silver and 10% copper. You may have already heard these coins called, "Silver Quarters". This is because of their silver content.

Now, run your finger down the list of dates to 1965.

What happened on that date?
     Our guide book tells us that the composition of the Washington Quarter was changed! Instead of using silver, they replaced it with a less expensive metal; nickel. But, it's more interesting than that!

By sandwiching a core layer of 75% copper between two thin layers of 25% nickel, the cost to produce a quarter went down. This method produces what we call a "clad" coin.

Clad coins are easily identifiable by the band of copper exposed in the edges of a coin.

Let's take a look at the edge of our 1983 D Washington Quarter.


See that band of copper in the edge?
That is the easiest way to tell if you have a clad coin.

Now we know that our 1983 D Washington Quarter is clad, and composed of 75% copper and 25% nickel.

5) How many coins of this type were made?
     To answer this question, simply slide your finger forward through the dates to find 1983D again. Now, follow the dotted line to the right.......to find a number under the column "Mintage".

Mintage refers to the quantity of a coin that was produced at a specific mint for a specific year.

Following the dotted line for 1983D, we see that the Denver Mint produced 617,806,446 coins!

AMAZING!!!

We now have in our possession, 1 out of 617,806,446 coins! Another one will never be made and coins of this date will continue to be lost, damaged and destroyed, every day of every year; never to be seen again.

That's why it is so important for us to take great care of our coins.
By becoming a numismatist, you must also become a curator for your collection. Make sure to wear gloves when handling your coins and store them in a dry location.

From this moment on, you are responsible for a piece of history that can never be replaced.

We will go further into storing and displaying our coins in a future blog. But, for now, let's just enjoy our find!

Subscribe to my YouTube Channel to see other videos and playlists not included in this blog.

And, keep growing your numismatic knowledge with these great books!
1) Handbook of United States Coins: Official Blue Book
2) A Guide Book of Washington and State Quarters: Complete Source of History, Grading, and Prices

Until next time,
Happy Hunting!





BIRTHDAY COIN COLLECTION: DIMES

Welcome back, Coin Roll Hunters!

Too bad we didn't come up with any silver while coin roll hunting for wartime nickels, but we won't give up!

Today, we will continue with our Birthday Coin Collections. So, gather your dimes and your numismatics gear as we search for the next coin in this series.

CLICK HERE to join my search for a 1983D Roosevelt Dime in a bank-wrapped roll.

This has been a great hunt so far! We've had some success, but this coin is a bit worn.

CLICK HERE to search through the customer-wrapped roll to see if we can find a 1983D Dime in better condition.

Alright! We've searched through two rolls of dimes and found two 1983D Roosevelt Dimes in two different conditions.

This is a great way to find the best coins for our collection. When you are coin roll hunting, if you come across multiple coins your are looking for, put them all aside and compare them to each other. Then you can choose only that coin that you like best for your collection.

Just remember, the more rolls of coins you search, the more success you will have coin roll hunting. It's all about volume.

Thanks for joining me for our search for dimes. We are one step closer to completing our Birthday Coin Collections!

Let me know how your dime hunt went in the comments below and be sure to leave any of your coin-related questions.

Join me next time as we learn some tips on how to grade your coins.

Continue growing your numismatic knowledge with these great books!
1) Handbook of United States Coins: The Official Blue Book
2) Dimes by Mary Hill

Happy Hunting!