Chickenswoup

1 hour ago, Quintus Arrius said:

Grandpa?  I've got a few years on him.  What's that make me?

Besides, have you checked this guy's bio?  He's got an array of heavy artillery to suit every occasion. He's been involved in photography for many decades. Not known to beat around the bush, he can be brash and direct -- but brutally honest and a fount of knowledge.

That doesn’t justify bashing someone else’s equipment. I personally find no need in a magnifying glass, at least for now(28 so my eyes might get worse with age) I like the microscope, because I like to look at the details of coins, and see all sorts of abnormalities. If he can give me a good option, that can do the same, for under $200, please tell me. Otherwise he is just being a snob.

Sorry, still getting used to proper way of the forum

Is it?

23 hours ago, VKurtB said:

I have to dissent on the recommendation of a digital scope. Garbage. Maybe an optical one, but not some junky USB embarrassment. 

Sorry Grandpa, but that’s just, like, your opinion.

I really like East Germany coins too. You can really see the Soviet influence in design of the coins.

Went to a local coin expo today, found some really nice condition 2 RMs along with some East Germany marks and pfennigs 

I will tell you what happened.

when you are looking for something that isn’t there, but you want to find it, eventually you will start imagining it. I would suggest taking a break from staring at the coin, and look at it again in a few days. That is if you genuinely believe that it’s a “3”. Because it’s not. I had something similar happen to me, when I was going through my “1947 Canadian nickel” looking for a dot variant. I would spend nearly an hour looking at one coin, at various magnifications(even 200x) trying to find a dot, that wasn’t there. I realized that I’m just being delusional, took a break and looked at my coins again in a couple of days. Sure enough, nothing was there.

sometimes the excitement of an idea that, maybe, this is that rare coin, derails logic.

It doesn’t matter how many pictures you will take with a phone, it will still be too worn out to tell, you should get a digital microscope, if you are serious about collecting. Even if you are just getting into it(like I am) it really helps with determining which coin you have at hand, or it would help this community determine for you, by providing a much more detailed picture.

Wouldn’t say got ripped, technically I still possess the $50 I gave the bank in exchange for $50 in nickels. Haha, it probably is nice to find quarters and dimes in a nickel roll, but this was my first nickel hunt. I got pretty excited when I found 4 1965 nickels, but they all turned out to be small bead variety. At least my nickel collection is coming to completion. I will be documenting every time I do this thing, just to see how many on average, out of 1000 nickels, are rare.

25x$2 nickel rolls

2.5 rolls with 1980 and older nickels

13 nickels 1965 and older

Only one somewhat rare variation: whistling queen

though it’s only valued at around $1 CAD, pretty excited to add this one to my collection.

The phone camera doesn’t depict the variation well. Will have to upload microscope pictures shortly

So, from what I understand, each country has its own grading system? Is there a universal one?

I have been reading about different conditions, and how to determine which one a coin is.

However, I still have trouble fully understanding it, as most guides(that I read) online have very low res/quality pictures for comparison.

1965 Nickel with Elisabeth; is it XF or VF? what should I look at when trying to determine that?

1947 Nickel with George 5th VG or F? Same goes for this one.

Any help is appreciated, and hopefully one day I will be able to understand all the numbers that follow the grades as well.

I just can't believe he/she wasted a holder on that coin

Thank you for your response.

Also, the coin seems to be discolored. What causes the discoloration? In this case, is it elements, or possibly corrosive materials?

A closer  look

I am just getting into collecting coins, I am still learning about condition, variants etc.

I would like to know, what is that dot, near the 1, on this 1941 nickel. I compared it to other nickels of the same date, but it seems like this is not common, or a variation

Thank you for your help