Marked coins...

[placerman]

Every week I go through my boxes.

Every week I see a new way of marking them it seems.

I figure 20% or more of the coins I go through are marked in some obvious way. I can only guess at the amount of time spent on this but I am sure it took hours upon hours to mark these coins.

This week I found around 75 "frosty white" clad halves, some with stickers, many with the usual magic marker on the side, some with the edges colored black, quite a few with either a "3" or "W" on the face, and one was even painted yellow. Some were older, but most were "marked" recently as in within a few months at the most.

When I have asked about this in the past I was told it was a waste of time and not to do it.

That makes me wonder... Given that so many Hunters seem to enjoy wasting prodigious amounts of time marking coins, what are the chances that only those who don't mark their coins visit this forum? Is it much more likely that there are at least a few here that do this, and for whatever reason they refuse to admit it?

I'm not accusing anybody I am just saying... lol

With that said what is actually gained by doing this? I mean they are spending some serious time drawing a smiley face on a few hundred or a few thousand coins per week so there has to be some demonstrated benefit right?


BTW marking your clad coins to make them look like silver when viewed on the edge is EVIL!!!!

 

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[Hi Ho Silver!]

I've admitted it. I mark coins. And I have learned quite a bit from it.

I have learned about the turn around time in my area from when coins are shipped from a bank to when they
are rolled and boxed.

I have learned who cross-ships with who in my area. Just because a bank ships your coins out via
Brinks, doesn't mean that Brinks will roll them. Doesn't even mean that they will end up back at a Brink's DI.

I now know which banks to dump at, which banks to buy from, and increase my odds of getting fresh halves.

There are alot of other little nuances that I have learned about from marking also.

I really can't understand how you can determine all that from marking coins. Explain please

 

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[thurmownator]

I've never defaced a coin in almost 3 years of searching. ffd

ditto

 

[coinmojo]

Never marked coins as it is a waste of time. I just look at the edges for keepers. Don't even look at the coins unless it is a proof. For all I know I could have dumped a two headed clad Kennedy.
HH
Rich

I'll bet you missed some silver then for sure. I look at the edges first. THEN I actually look at the coins. I would have missed several and I know exactly what to look for.

That is not true HI HO. An experienced CRHer can spot silver halves just by rim searching. I use a two part test, rim search first, then dump coins "accordian style" from one hand to another to listen for silver.

Only once or twice in my CRHing career have I caught a silver that I missed rim searching (and that was early on in my CRHing career). While sight may miss, sound never lies.

It would be a complete waste of time for me to look at each coin to check the year while doing halves.


PS. Rich, I have found one 1964 two headed Kennedy, but that was found by rim searching.

Jim

You are right Jim, the 2nd step in the process which I call waterfallng ("accordian style") always catches what the trained eye can miss.

Hi Ho.... I never miss any silver.. I Guarantee.

Mojo

 

[apush]

I just marked my first coin. I wrote, "Don't mark coins."
Honestly, I would rather have a skunk box without marks than one with them. This week I went thru 2 boxes of halves, and yes, several were marked. Found only one silver.
apush

 

[snappy]

when I moved to the area I currently live in (on boarder of two fed districts) I marked 2 groups of coins (one group heads one group tails) dumped heads in one area and tails in another to see I would get coins from one fed district to another. I did get some of my marked coins back. but they did not move districts which is what I was wondering. now that I know they don't switch districts I don't mark any more just did early on as an experiment. BTW they are marked with an uppercase cursive J.

 

[obediah]

I just marked my first coin. I wrote, "Don't mark coins."
Honestly, I would rather have a skunk box without marks than one with them. This week I went thru 2 boxes of halves, and yes, several were marked. Found only one silver.
apush

Found plenty of marked coins in today's 6 Boxes but also found biggest total this year too, 101 Silvers, but only one was a %90 in 4 0f 6 Boxes the bulk 87 came from 2 Boxes. Yeah had a Bank sell me a Bank Bag off their machine in Jan it had 278 in it, but today was my best set of Boxes this year totals wise anyway.

 

[mistergee]

"i only mark the one's with 9's"
"i only mark the worn ones"
"i only mark one per box"
and if we all did that, how many would we be looking at then. they all add up.
"i want to see if i'm searching my own dumps"
"i want to see what my turn around time is"
"i want to see if my coins cross carriers"
yes you are searching your own dumps.
your turn around varies from bank to bank and from carrier to carrier.
yes many of your coins do cross carriers.
now armed with this great knowledge, how many of you have used this to increase your finds?
noone......its luck of the draw....or right place at the right time.
its my opinion that marking coins is selfish and does nothing to increase your silver finds. the info is worthless.
i also want to point out that i am not singling any one person out. there are more here that mark thier coins but won't admit they do.

 

[jrf30]

now armed with this great knowledge, how many of you have used this to increase your finds?

Me. :-)

By marking the few that I do, and then seeing that I am not getting many back yet, it shows me that there are a MAJORITY of coins out there that have NOT been seen by me yet. That gives me the HOPE that I need when I go through 40 boxes in 4 weeks, like I just did, and get 3 silvers from those boxes.

For me (just me) I see that in those boxes I found 4 of my marked coins of 198 potentials that matched my marked criteria (All are marked now). So, knowing that of the 198 I got, only 4 were seen by me previously keeps me thinking that there IS a batch out there SOMEWHERE in this area that I have NOT seen and is full of silver. Getting 3 silvers in 40 boxes sucks. And would crush me if not for my hope that remains. I see things like Obediah's comments <<Found plenty of marked coins in today's 6 Boxes but also found biggest total this year too, 101 Silvers, but only one was a %90 in 4 0f 6 Boxes the bulk 87 came from 2 Boxes.>> and I know those boxes are out there. (That too gives me hope to suffer through these dismal boxes). Finding 101 silvers like he did would meet my ANNUAL goal, so knowing it could happen fast like that is awesome for me to think about.

When I get to the point where 140 of the 198 potentials I get are already marked by me, I'll know I've worked my way through a larger majority of what is out there in this area. Yes, I know that new silver gets added all the time. I know that. But still, when your ratios are like they are out here, you do little things that just help you have faith in continuing. you NEED that little extra to get through the search. Last year I had 52 skunks of 55 boxes in one big push. This year it is 37 of 40 boxes that were skunks and my BEST box had ONE silver. I need to know that I am not going to get this type of ratio forever, (although I probably AM) and that I "just have not found the big hit yet". :-) Silly, but it keeps me going.

And by keeping me searching, yes, it has added to my totals. Only three, but that's 3 more than if I gave up and didn't search.

Plus pulling the specific ones out that I need to mark gives me some "success", even if it is not "keepers". Again, a positive when you have 37 or 40 boxes as skunks.

That's my story. You may not agree, but that's okay. We're still good (At least in my book).

Good hunting to you. It may not be good here, but I still enjoy hearing others when they find things. And when I find great things, like the 31 silvers I found in 2 rolls (Not in a box, of course) that inspires me too. And got me 1/3 of the way to my annual goal in one day!

 

[mistergee]

So, knowing that of the 198 I got, only 4 were seen by me previously keeps me thinking that there IS a batch out there SOMEWHERE in this area that I have NOT seen and is full of silver.

please explain how this tells you that.
i'm not trying to pick a fight with you or anyone else who marks thier coins, (you BTW are okay in my book) its just that we have people here who keep precise numbers on everything and have detailed info on the where , whens, and hows and they still haven't been able to use that info to help increase thier finds. lets face it you have to be in the right place at the right time. there is no "formula" that will increase your odds of finding silver. i believe the people who mark most of thier coins are looking for more than just silver and they mark them so they don't have to date check them again thus saving some extra time. using the marking method to track how long your turn around time is works....but what does it prove? that eventually you will be looking at your own dumps in a short amount of time. we already know this. there are just too many variables such as a hoard was turned in, teller picked some but not all, coins being sent to and delivered to different carriers, etc. there are too many variables affecting the outcome. believe me if there were a formula that could be obtained from marking coins we would all know about it by now. i challenge anyone out there to show me how marking thier coins has increased thier silver finds.
sorry for the rant but it has been done time and time again and noone has proven a thing how this helps them in any way. so now we are all stuck with looking at all the destroyed coins in our boxes.
if its hope you are looking for then i can tell you that there is hope and there are silver hoards to be found in your area.....they just may not have been turned in yet. just read some of the posts and you can see guys who go through skunk after skunk after skunk and then BAM....a dream box.
BTW the only formula i found that works in CRH is the 3 P's formula.
Patience+Persistance=Profit

 

[jim4silver]

I have given up complaining about those who mark coins. All I care about anymore is finding silver keepers, as opposed to trying to build an AU/BU set of Kennedys.

All marking shows people is that they got their coins back. Nobody can say it proves anything else.

Here's why. Marking coins does not show:

1. How many different CRHers had the coins after you mark them but before they find their way back to you.

2. Does not show whether coin couriers cross ship, simply because the CRHer who gets your coins after you mark them and dump them may decide to dump them at a bank that uses a different coin courier so they come out in a different brand of box, or he may drive them 100 miles away and dump them in a different district, etc, the possibilities are endless.

3. Does not show how much time before your dumps come back due to the natural turnover in coins by couriers, because maybe a CRHer got them after you marked them and decided to not dump them for a week or two week, etc. Maybe they saved them for a year and dumped them, etc.

There are so many other variables that come into play. So again, when you get your marked coins back it means you got your marked coins back. That is it. One can speculate as to time, cross shipping, etc, but there is no way to know if your speculations are correct or not because of unknown variables.

Just my 2 (unmarked) cents.

Jim

 

[Electronova]

Anybody else just weigh the rolls and only open the ones that aren't the correct weight? Today is my first day for a box of halves and I feel that I am not missing any. So far I got two 40% and one 90% ben in 16 rolls so far. I'll post my complete findings with pics when I finish of the box later.

As for marking coins I feel that marking coins isn't that bad, as people are dumping them anyways, except for the case of finding a 40% with an X on it, that would suck. So as long as you're sure the ones you mark aren't silver it's fine. As for me I think it is a big waste of time to mark.

Also I am extremely skeptical of being able to developing tracking abilities and knowing where to buy and where to dump. The objective of silver hunting is to get coins that naive people have deposited. Knowing where to dump and buy has absolutely no effect on where people accidentally deposit silver...

 

[jim4silver]

As for marking coins I feel that marking coins isn't that bad, as people are dumping them anyways,

What is "bad" is that someone else might want the otherwise marked up coins. I have seen perfect looking clad Kennedys (Proofs and early 70s) all marked up. If they were not marked they could be saved by those who want them.

Jim

 

[Electronova]

I guess it is bad for people that are trying to put together clad sets, I just figured most hunters are looking for silver.

 

[GPURS]

Wow! The time that some people spend whining about some marks on a half ... I think it is well established by now that the simple act of repeatedly sending these halves through the commercial rolling machines does far more damage than a sharpie ever will. Not to mention the "contact" marks and scratches that are imparted on these coins from sliding across other coins and YOUR kitchen table.
For you guys that are STILL searching for just the right 71d to put in your book, there are plenty of ways to remove a sharpie mark from the half. As far as the scratches that you cause by constantly recycling these things, well there is not much that can be done about those ....

 

[rjw4law]

I got a solid blue dime!

 

[mistergee]

For you guys that are STILL searching for just the right 71d to put in your book, there are plenty of ways to remove a sharpie mark from the half.

normal wear and tear is one thing, removing a mark off a coin is another. normal wear and tear results in LOWER neumistic value, removing a sharpie mark off a coin also removes ALL neumistic value as it is now a "cleaned coin".

 

[GPURS]

For you guys that are STILL searching for just the right 71d to put in your book, there are plenty of ways to remove a sharpie mark from the half.

normal wear and tear is one thing, removing a mark off a coin is another. normal wear and tear results in LOWER neumistic value, removing a sharpie mark off a coin also removes ALL neumistic value as it is now a "cleaned coin".

You just don't get it do you?? A deep scratch from a commercial coin rolling machine will NEVER disappear from the coin. A sharpie mark will be gone in a year or two from normal circulation, or gone instantly if you know what you are doing ... But let's not let the facts get in the way of another useless post complaining about markers...Eeesh.

 

[jim4silver]

For you guys that are STILL searching for just the right 71d to put in your book, there are plenty of ways to remove a sharpie mark from the half.

normal wear and tear is one thing, removing a mark off a coin is another. normal wear and tear results in LOWER neumistic value, removing a sharpie mark off a coin also removes ALL neumistic value as it is now a "cleaned coin".

You just don't get it do you?? A deep scratch from a commercial coin rolling machine will NEVER disappear from the coin. A sharpie mark will be gone in a year or two from normal circulation, or gone instantly if you know what you are doing ... But let's not let the facts get in the way of another useless post complaining about markers...Eeesh.

Don't really know what these "deep scratches" are you keep writing about. Maybe the coin machines in your area do this, but not where I get my coins. I rarely see the coins with the circular type marks that are supposedly from coin rolling machines.

I have removed several halves that look BU, and have seen thousands more like that with all kinds of BS graffiti from coin markers. Some collectors want to try and save rolls of BU coins from different years, not just one of each for a coin album.

I know that is not your problem and you don't have to give a crap about it. But your argument about scratched coins is BS from what I have seen.


Jim

 

[GPURS]

Since you have called "bs" on my description of how coins become scratched and irreversibly damaged, do you care to explain to the rest of the world where all of the scratches and dings come from on halves?? They come from commercial rolling machines and contact marks. That is the only way. So you just keep on sending those coins through the system and dinging them up chief. And, you just keep telling yourself that YOU are not part of the problem..

 

[coinmojo]

Got me another big batch of red necks this week... this guy is really starting to irritate me I have pulled as many as 100 rednecks out of a single box.. Again stupid tag that means nothing especially since in the last 3 months that not a week goes by that I don't get a red neck in some of my boxes. along with silver. Waste of time.

Oh and lots of rolling machine scratches and lots of mint condition halves that could be added to anyones collection if you wanted to put a book together. I did this my first week of CRH.

Mojo