Question about scales 1 1

[Eric Perry]

I'm looking to pick up a digital scale to weigh coins.  I want it to be portable, so I can take it to shows and such.  To suit my purposes, the scale should be able to weigh/display 0.01 gram increments.

There are hundreds of options available for purchase online...probably too many choices.  Does anyone have a relatively inexpensive (<$25) recommendation?

[RWB]

Do you want cheap or accurate? A scale is only good for weighing raw coins or medals.

[Eric Perry]

I'm looking for a scale accurate enough to help me test 90% silver dimes/quarters/halves/dollars.  "Junk silver" bought face to face at a show or from a local seller.

I know there will be some variance, because as coins circulate, they get slightly lighter.  I also realize weight is not the only test.  Just looking for an inexpensive tool to add to my "kit" before I go out and start doing this.

[RWB]

For weighing bulk silver coins, you won't need low weight accuracy. Accuracy to the 100th gram is over-kill. You will likely be weighing small sandwich bags of coins, so you need higher capacity -- say up to a kilogram. (32.1508 T oz per kilogram) Be sure to weigh the container separately and subtract that from the gross weight.

For this purpose a $25 digital scale will be fine. Almost all are made in China and they are so inexpensive to produce that the quality and reliability are almost the same -- until you get to really good scientific grade instruments.

[Eric Perry]

On 8/6/2023 at 10:46 PM, RWB said:

For weighing bulk silver coins, you won't need low weight accuracy. Accuracy to the 100th gram is over-kill. You will likely be weighing small sandwich bags of coins, so you need higher capacity -- say up to a kilogram. (32.1508 T oz per kilogram) Be sure to weigh the container separately and subtract that from the gross weight.

For this purpose a $25 digital scale will be fine. Almost all are made in China and they are so inexpensive to produce that the quality and reliability are almost the same -- until you get to really good scientific grade instruments.

This is helpful info.  Thank you.

[RWB]

Be sure the scale you buy has enough upper end weight capacity for the bulk amounts you anticipate --- you don't want to be weighing 500 dimes one-at-a-time.

One other small item. Bulk silver that people bring to sell is usually dirty. Allow for this when you buy or sell.

Edited August 7, 2023 by RWB

[powermad5000]

My opinion on scales from China is the same as I have said for several years now. Cheap pocket scales are highly INACCURATE. Imho, if you are paying less than $25, then you are going to get cheap inaccurate results. I agree with @RWB, if you are weighing bulk coins in bags, you need a scale with a high range in either Kg or Lb (high range being a minimum 10lb). Bringing any scale near its max capacity is not recommended and usually throws off the calibration. I am not sure you are going to find a pocket scale that can handle that weight. A scale that weighs grams to the hundredths is for weighing a single coin to get its accurate weight and is not meant for the purpose of bulk weighing. Also, a scale of that calibration would probably fail internally if you tried weighing bulk coins on it as it is usually calibrated for light weights for either accuracy or counting of very small items.

It is difficult to find a scale nowadays not made in China, but for the purpose you are looking for, I recommend doing an eBay search using the filters for scales made in the US or Germany. Also, being you need to weigh most likely in lbs, one name that comes to mind would be a scale made by Mettler Toledo. Post offices sell a smaller scale than the ones they use at the counter which is not a gigantic scale but weighs up to 25 lbs and costs about $40. I don't know how "portable" it is though as I think it needs to be plugged in. I am not sure if they make a battery operated portable scale for the purpose you need. I hope this post helps some. Good luck!

[Eric Perry]

On 8/6/2023 at 11:46 PM, powermad5000 said:

My opinion on scales from China is the same as I have said for several years now. Cheap pocket scales are highly INACCURATE. Imho, if you are paying less than $25, then you are going to get cheap inaccurate results. I agree with @RWB, if you are weighing bulk coins in bags, you need a scale with a high range in either Kg or Lb (high range being a minimum 10lb). Bringing any scale near its max capacity is not recommended and usually throws off the calibration. I am not sure you are going to find a pocket scale that can handle that weight. A scale that weighs grams to the hundredths is for weighing a single coin to get its accurate weight and is not meant for the purpose of bulk weighing. Also, a scale of that calibration would probably fail internally if you tried weighing bulk coins on it as it is usually calibrated for light weights for either accuracy or counting of very small items.

It is difficult to find a scale nowadays not made in China, but for the purpose you are looking for, I recommend doing an eBay search using the filters for scales made in the US or Germany. Also, being you need to weigh most likely in lbs, one name that comes to mind would be a scale made by Mettler Toledo. Post offices sell a smaller scale than the ones they use at the counter which is not a gigantic scale but weighs up to 25 lbs and costs about $40. I don't know how "portable" it is though as I think it needs to be plugged in. I am not sure if they make a battery operated portable scale for the purpose you need. I hope this post helps some. Good luck!

I have an AWS Postal Scale (plug or battery powered) that has performed well for outgoing packages.  25 kilogram max, displays in increments of 2 grams.  It also has English (lb./oz.) measurements.  That's probably fine for a bag of  bulk coins.

If someone local has (for example) a few Morgan/Peace Dollars for sale, though, I'd rather have something that tells me a more precise weight than 26 grams.  The coin could be anywhere from 25.01 to 26.99 grams and the scale would display 26.  That's way too much of a margin for my liking.

[GoldFinger1969]

I have an ET Matrix small digital scale that is maybe 4" x 2"...maximum of 300 grams.  Perfect for me.  Got it off Amazon.

Edited August 7, 2023 by GoldFinger1969

[EagleRJO]

On 8/6/2023 at 10:08 PM, Eric Perry said:

... the scale should be able to weigh/display 0.01 gram increments.

On 8/6/2023 at 10:34 PM, Eric Perry said:

I'm looking for a scale accurate enough to help me test 90% silver dimes/quarters/halves/dollars.  "Junk silver" bought face to face at a show or from a local seller.

A small decent quality scale with an accuracy of 0.01 grams is good for weighing individual coins, which I think every collector should have.  Also check the max capacity to make sure it can handle rolls of junk silver, like about 250g for a roll of 20 silver halves.

Also if you are considering weighing bags of junk silver you may need a second scale, as some of the bags are like 2 to 2-1/2 pounds.  A scale with enough capacity for that likely isn't accurate enough for individual coins.

On 8/6/2023 at 10:08 PM, Eric Perry said:

There are hundreds of options available for purchase online...probably too many choices.  Does anyone have a relatively inexpensive (<$25) recommendation?

The scales under $25 are the super cheap ones with questionable accuracy.  Some of the better scales are around $40 to $45 which I would recommend.  I bought a decent quality one made by Smart Scale on Amazon for around $40.

[powermad5000]

On 8/7/2023 at 1:26 PM, Eric Perry said:

If someone local has (for example) a few Morgan/Peace Dollars for sale, though, I'd rather have something that tells me a more precise weight than 26 grams.  The coin could be anywhere from 25.01 to 26.99 grams and the scale would display 26.  That's way too much of a margin for my liking.

Then you would need two different scales most likely. One for single coins such as a single Morgan or Peace as you mentioned and one for bulk weighing. I myself invested $150 in a Freistaden Labs scale which is a lab grade scale. Probably too much over the top for single coin weighing, but I demand accuracy when weighing a single coin. I don't need to do this much so it is an expensive scale that sits in a box most of the time, but I have peace of mind that my weights are accurate. I have maybe only needed to weigh about 5 coins on it over about a four year period. I got it on eBay.

I don't think everybody needs to buy a scale as expensive as the one I got though. There are cheaper ones that will still give you an accurate weighing, but I do think any of the cheap scales under $25 and especially those around $10-15 are just plain not accurate and are not worth the money to get a new scale that doesn't weigh right. I went through three cheap AWS pocket scales that all failed within weeks of buying them.

[EagleRJO]

On 8/8/2023 at 12:06 AM, powermad5000 said:

I have maybe only needed to weigh about 5 coins on it over about a four year period

Funny, I am on the opposite end of the spectrum having weighed hundreds, in addition to taking measurements with calipers.  Likely overkill even checking coins from reputable dealers, but it takes me no time at all now to check both.  Virtually all the coins I buy are raw, so I take some extra steps to help avoid counterfeits which I really don't want in my collection.

I read an article about counterfeits in Coin Week not that long ago which reinforced that, saying ... "A scale is a good way for collectors to screen out certain low-quality fakes".  The incorrect weight was a dead giveaway for the counterfeit coin being discussed, as it was struck with a less expensive and lower density copper-zinc alloy blank.

https://coinweek.com/ngc-counterfeit-detection-1884-cc-morgan-dollar/

On 8/8/2023 at 12:06 AM, powermad5000 said:

... I do think any of the cheap scales under $25 and especially those around $10-15 are just plain not accurate and are not worth the money to get a new scale that doesn't weigh right.

I completely agree.  I started out with one of those $20 cheap scales and I kept getting wacky reading, even after repeated calibrations.  I threw it out and got a better one for about $40 after doing a little research.  Accurate to 0.001g which is a little overkill, but I know the hundredths readings are going to be "on the money". 

[powermad5000]

On 8/8/2023 at 4:53 AM, EagleRJO said:

I read an article about counterfeits in Coin Week not that long ago which reinforced that, saying ... "A scale is a good way for collectors to screen out certain low-quality fakes".

As the scammers and counterfeiters continue to expand and find new ways to scam people, this is not a bad thing to do. We can't just rely on past known fakes or terrible quality ones that are easy to spot. I typically only buy from dealers with a 100% guarantee the coins they sell are genuine so I don't worry too much about it as I may be putting more reliance on them than I should that they have already screened their coins for fakes, but even they might get caught off guard by something new popping up.