Insider

See if this reply makes sense to you: I don't know anything about microwave ovens. Nothing about wattage, microwaves, or how they work. I have heard that the microwaves agitate something inside of things. I once read they were used to make our diplomats sick. However, I do know how to set the timer (even the clock) on the microwave oven in my kitchen and the results are outstanding. Therefore, I don't need to know the answer to any of your questions about florescent light. However, I am anxious to learn something from you.

This quiz on the other forum may evolve into a how to revive the NGC forum. Members here should be happy that anyone at any level posts here with a question of any kind! This place has become a virtual Private Message Board for just a few folks and little content while other NGC offerings seem to be very active and popular. I'm posting a new thread where this discussion belongs.

This quiz has been answered on another forum (without all the fluff : 60 total posts. 16 are mine mostly to draw out the answer Only 10 posts have to do with the quiz. So due to lack of interest here, I'll post the answer with additional images Tuesday. Then we can move on to one more quiz much easier.

Florescent light is best used for counterfeit detection and SEEING THE FIRST SIGNS OF LOSS OF ORIGINAL SURFACE on any coinage metal. In order to do this with a hand lens, it is best to learn the difference between friction wear, weak strike, and "roll" compression using a stereo microscope + florescent light. Once you learn the difference, you'll be able to see it with a hand lens. Copper is more difficult than silver or gold and nickel is even harder as Nickel has the least color change with wear. I cannot count the number of times I've watched professional numismatists go back and forth about a characteristic on a coin that me or a person with the experience I recommend above can ID CORRECTLY in 2 seconds or less!

Well at this time there are more ACTIVE folks who would benefit from your posts over there!

Yes. So what. The characteristic has been imaged with florescent light in the best orientation and enhancement to show all that is need to properly ID the characteristic if a numismatist has seen hundreds of these "surfaces." Surface is another BIG CLUE because this characteristic has nothing to do with size or shape. True Possibly true and probably why you have not made any attempt YET to ID the marks. Every attempt (right or wrong provides an opportunity to learn.

Great question! At least one member is closely reading this discussion. Its SHAPE! Its shape makes it APPEAR to be caused by two (EDIT: 3 including the one I forgot below) of the other choices. NOTE one member's excellent evaluation: "A strike through or planchet flaw seem the most likely on this one for me. Giving the long, streaked appearance, some sort of lamination/delamination error was my first instinct on this coin. Dumb me (old age) couldn't remember the other choice at the time (delamination) so I just added " 6. Other.

I disagree with your opinion but agree with your example which is only one of the reasons they get slammed. Two others: Smaller coins are harder to see than larger coins. The amount of friction on a small coin that makes it a "technical" AU would be virtually ignored on a larger piece. Both of these factors allow them to be graded higher than they "technically" deserve. Biggest offender IMHO: TPGS Type 2 gold dollar. An even harder coin to grade correctly is the Three Cent silver. Both are among our smallest coins.

Self Edit...not worth my time.

Well another misguided forum member who misrepresents my comments. Fortunately, this member at least quoted me directly. Unfortunately, he neglected to say that my statement is directed to all the self-righteous, depends-wearing, busy-body, wish-to-be important, ignorant, do-nothings that feel it is their duty to police the forums for content and report anything that may offend the other .0002% of the normal members. The moderators on CT are some of the BEST in the business. So far, it appears that the moderators on this site are at least as good or better. BTW, if you were banned from CT, I consider it to be a blessing for the CT members! Just my humble opinion.

Thanks for the reply, the count is going up. I'm going to check out the PMG board today.

Good guess, The coin is raw and it "looks like" a planchet flaw.

I posted in the beginning that this is not a basic quiz. Actually it is a very tough one due to the unusual/rare appearance of this defect. Therefore this mark resembles a lot of things being suggested. I gave you the obvious choices above to stir up some answers. When you have seen hundreds of these at the magnification in the OP it becomes a less difficult determination. I know what it is and will post the final clue Tuesday when I can get to the images at work.

Just an unsolicited brother to brother comment from me to you: True or not, IMO, you often come off as a troll looking for attention by cluttering up a discussion with "fluff" that just takes up space and adds nothing. You are not the only one. There is NO REASON for anyone to mock, belittle, criticize, put-down, kick-around, humiliate, etc. anyone on a coin forum UNLESS the poster is trying to elicit that reaction and enjoys the attention he gets. It is too bad a full time moderator is not in place to delete much of the "fluff" (such as this post) coming from all of us.

Roger is an important poster anywhere. He needs to join CT ASAP just in case this place cannot be fixed in a year. There are only three posters here I would miss (who don't post over there already) when I get banned, bored, or give up here.

That is easy - I consider a post by anyone to be a unique view to be counted. So far, there are 3 posters who have replied to this poll. Anyone else viewing this thread is TOTALLY unimportant because if an active member did not post or start a discussion here THERE WOULD BE NOTHING HERE TO VIEW! Viewers, do not make a site active, they are numismatic parasites! Heck, a YN in a class who knows virtually nothing has the IQ to ask a question! Think of how active and educational this place would be if just a few viewers asked a question. The other forums have new discussions started every few minutes!

The ONLY folks that count are those that post on a forum. Plenty of folks just lurk and never/very rarely post. SO: NGC has a forum with 20+ active posters and one million viewers/rarely posters. That's OK as the posters are using the site and the others are also and learning different opinions. While all this is well and good for numismatic education, it makes for a virtually DEAD site that for years after joining I only looked at once or twice a month at most because the site was DEAD! This forum is a joke over at the ATS and I am guilty of expressing that CORRECT opinion over there (before banning) that this place is DEAD. No fun, no action. I think it is being stirred up a little but 5 very active posters cannot revive a website no matter who they are. Well, that's not correct. I could pick 7-8 numismatists (who do not have the time or wish to post) who could dominate all the chat rooms with their serious posts and opinions. Imagine reading an in-depth discussion of MF, MS, DH, JA, JD, LS, and...in a GTG post. Anyway, the number of active posters is very low here. It could be the content. I posted a quiz here and on another forum. It fell flat on its face here, so much so that I'll try one more here and then quit because it is not worth my time. On another forum it is going strong and the members are very close to the answer. The posters over there are answering questions not posting unrelated bla, bla, bla! Another thing. NGC authenticates ancients. This place should become the go to site for ANY discussion of ancient coins but it is not. It is completely DEAD. Rant over. Let's get this place off the ventilator!

That's one poster. But there are more views than posters. I guess some folks are afraid of something. So sad.

I think I under stand your point. However, the specifications for each grade are specific - just NOT identical. Additionally, a largish hit on the face of a Morgan dollar would destroy the face of a dollar gold piece.

I think the additional reason rare coins are graded differently is because THEIR VALUE continues to increase. Collectors don't wish to pay millions of dollars for a coin formerly graded n XF/AU.

Roger, you are a very important addition to any forum. You do like to insert your "humor" into threads quite often. I'll admit tit is frustrating at times but I "spank" you. I wish you Condor and Mark would join Coin Talk. It would push the quality of that place way up. At the moment it is far more active than here.

At this time, there are several more active numismatic chat forums. I am on a mission to revive the NGC forum rather than start a new one. The way each different website is set up and works has pluses and minuses. Building one of these sites is expensive but there should be no reason for a major TPGS not to want to have the best program that includes ALL THE PLUSES from the other chat rooms. For example, combining three classes of coins into one forum HERE was done for a reason that anyone with a brain can figure out. However, doing this is a minus IMO. So this is a research poll. The mods know the numbers already but let's find out what they are. If you post on this forum, please reply YES and anything you wish to add. I will be shocked if there are more than twenty replies to this poll SO SHOCK ME!

Smaller coins are graded differently than larger coins. Do you know why? Rare and famous coins are also graded differently.

How would this reach into the interior of the coin an leave diagonal marks? Marks from crimping are found around the rim.

Why don't you take a guess at the cause of the marks? The answer is on the list above.