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deleted
43 Posts |
 Posted - 02/06/2008 : 14:55:18
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Hello,
I'm new to the forum and would first like to say that it is a pleasure to be here. I am happy to have found a place like this, now I know I am not the only "crazy person" hoarding coins out there despite what my wife thinks  .
So far I am a hand sorter (I don't have the cash to go industrial yet) and I'm looking into improving my hand sorting methods. Does anyone have any suggestions for more efficent hand sorting? Any advice is appreciated.
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aloneibreak
Penny Hoarding Member
USA
672 Posts |
Posted - 02/06/2008 : 16:25:31
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welcome, give it time and maybe your wife will catch on and become a "crazy person" as well.
im still hand sorting due to lack of cash and problems with zinc disposal. i can sort a box and get everything put away in under an hour if uninterrupted.
heres how i do it - others have different methods so you'll have to try a couple out and see what suits you best.
i take the roll tear it open and throw empty wrapper in a basket. i hold all 50 coins in my left hand and pick out the zincs with my right. when i find a copper it goes in a small pile on my left. wheats, canadians, 82's, BU coppers and oddball coins go on the desk in front of me. after ive sorted through all 50, my handful of zincs goes in a bucket on the floor to my right and i sweep the coppers off in a bucket on the floor to the left. grab a new roll and repeat.
at the end of the box i sort the small pile in front of me and put each type of coin in their small containers.
with time you learn to not even look at every date -- as soon as you see the 2--- or 199- you know its a zinc and away it goes.
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My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.
Thomas Jefferson
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CoinHunter53562
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
1805 Posts |
Posted - 02/06/2008 : 16:54:16
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I do a similar style as alone...I break open two rolls at once and spread them out over a table. I use both hands and separate out pre 1982 pennies to the left, 1983 and after to the right, 1982's in a pile (to be weighed), wheats in a pile, and canadians in a pile. The zincs go in a coffee can right away, while the coppers go in their own storage too. After 10 rolls or so, I take a break and weigh the 1982's (or any other that I cant identify the date) and put them away in the zinc or copper piles.
For the copper pennies, I do one more look through and look for 1960 small dates, 1969-s double dies and other varieties listed in the red book.
After I am done sorting, I enter into a spreadsheet the number of 59-82 coppers, # wheats, and # canadians as well as the total # of coins (1 box=2500 coins). Hope this helps. |
My hobby: collecting real money 1 copper cent or nickel at a time.
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horgad
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
1641 Posts |
Posted - 02/06/2008 : 19:43:15
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You can save a significant amount of time with a custom workspace. One requirement is strong light on an positionable arm. Another thing you can do is avoid having to pick the majority of pennies up off the table and place them in containers. To do this put your main zinc and copper containers below table level and slide the pennies in. (There are many ways to do this. One cheap and easy way would be to have two cardboard boxes taped to the edge of the table and a cardboard divider taped to the top of the table.) Also I would add a scale and a loupe to your set of tools to deal with 82s, unreadable dates, and possible error coins.
The method I preferred was coin box on my right, penny chutes leading to zinc and copper containers on my left. Then open a roll and dump it on the table under the light. Then the right hand would start flipping coins to be date side up. And also infrequently picking out wheats and canadians. At the same time the left hand was sliding date-side-up common zincs and coppers into the proper containers. And also placing 82s on a scale.
Hope that helps... |
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HoardCopperByTheTon
Administrator
USA
6807 Posts |
Posted - 02/06/2008 : 20:39:25
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| Horgad makes good sense recommending that you set up your work area properly. Do a time/motion analysis of the way you have things set up and try to set things up to minimize motion.. like avoiding having to toss the coins in a bucket. I used to be a fairly serious hand sorter. I actually paid for my Ryedale (The fancy Coin Artist model with all the bells and whistles) with proceeds from the sale of copper pennies I had sorted by hand. There was one thing I found early on that I am surprised more hand sorters have not discovered. It was significantly faster for me to sort using the scale rather than eyeballing each coin. With the scale you don't have to flip the coin over so it is heads up and orient it so you can read the date or bring it up to where you can read the date either with your naked eye or under a magifying glass. Just put a whole roll in one hand and drop one at a time on the scale and kick it left or right with the other hand. If it makes copper weight you can see right away if it is Canadian and you only have to flip half of the copper ones to check for wheat ears. Also, since the majority of the cents you will be checking are zincs you can actually do 3,4 or 5 at a time on the scale and quickly sort those zincs out. You know right away by the weight if there are any keepers in the stack. You already have the scale.. so give this method a try and see if it is faster for you. |
If your percentages are low.. just sort more. If your percentages are high.. just sort more.
Now selling Copper pennies. 1.6x plus shipping. Limited amounts available. |
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n/a
deleted
43 Posts |
Posted - 02/07/2008 : 09:10:39
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Thank you! Those are some great tips! I've only been sorting pennies for about three months now and could sense that I wasn't doing it as efficiently as I could.
What I was doing was laying out about a third of the box of pennies at a time onto a table and trying to pick out the copper, wheats, Canadians, and odd coins into seperate piles then picking up and throwing the remaining zinc into a container. After looking over your posts I can see where I could make some definite improvements, my technique and workstation set up were both inefficient.
I really like the idea of customizing a workstation for this purpose and the idea of using a scale; it really is a pain to have to flip over so many of the coins in order to read the dates.
Here's another beginner's question, where would I find a scale sensative enough to tell the difference between a copper and zinc penny? I tried to use a kitchen scale but it wasn't sensative enough. I need to get a proper scale anyway because of the 82's which I currently am storing but can't sort properly.
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Art Tatum
Penny Collector Member
USA
400 Posts |
Posted - 02/07/2008 : 18:26:02
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| Horgy,check your regular e-mail. |
my machine is running! |
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HoardCopperByTheTon
Administrator
USA
6807 Posts |
Posted - 02/07/2008 : 18:59:08
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| Metal Maniac.. you can get a scale for that on eBay for about $10-15. You don't need a really high end one to do this. You may want to consider getting one that goes up to 500 grams. That way you can check roll weights too. Or you can make your own balance scale out of a pencil and a popsicle stick. |
If your percentages are low.. just sort more. If your percentages are high.. just sort more.
Now selling Copper pennies. 1.6x plus shipping. Limited amounts available. |
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Art Tatum
Penny Collector Member
USA
400 Posts |
Posted - 02/07/2008 : 22:33:48
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What you want is a "tensor" lamp! trust me on this as I made custom jewelry for 15 years.
You can find them at Sharper Image then go on e-bay and punch in the serial number and wella~
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my machine is running! |
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Hand sorting methods
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