Equipment You Should Have at Home.

[cwilk]

Since its been coming up lately.

Must Haves (in no particular order.)

1. Small digital scale. 15-25 dollars. Weigh jewelry. Weigh coins to see if they are genuine. (Yes I've come across a few counterfeit US and foreign silver coins.)

2. Red Book. A Guide Book of US Coins. 10-15 dollars. Indispensable to determine if a coin you find has any value beyond face or melt value.

3. Jewelers Loupe. 5-20 dollars. I prefer 10x and 30x.

4. Logbook, Diary, or Spreadsheet on your PC. 3-10 dollars. Keep a record of what you find, when, and where. Use it to determine which sites deserve another hunt. If you do it on PC back up at least once a week.

5. Digital camera. 80-400 dollars. Keep a record of what you find. Post finds pics here.

6. Magnet. 1 dollar. Another tool for jewelry and coin testing.

Nice to have.

7. Silver test acid and a light color rub stone. 3-5 dollars. Determine in about 2 seconds if an item is actually silver. I think you should have gold acids too but they are a bit more difficult to use and interpret and more expensive than the silver test.

8. Steel ring mandrel and small brass/nylon hammer. 30-40 bucks. Straighten out bent rings to look brand new. Mandrel must be steel.

9. Electronic gold tester. 80-200 dollars. I use mine all the time. I run all my questionable finds through it and around 3 out of 100 have turned out to be gold. I find it easier to use than the acids.

10. Dremmel tool with polishing wheels and jewelry polishing compound (rouge.) 35-50 dollars. Polish up jewelry in minutes. Useful for all sorts of other household tasks too.

Add your own ideas to this list. I didn't include coin tumbling equipment which I think is a must have too.

Chris

 

[John 'n' W.Va]

One thing I would add that is a must if you find CW bullets, is a caliper. I bought a $200 Mitutoyo caliper for $5 at yard sale. That with a digital scale is what is needed to ID bullets.

Also good to have:
I have a bunch of nylon belts that I got working in a clean room. They were throwing them away. I also have mesh bags that I customized to go onto the belt for holding my stuff. I modified them to hold what ever I need.

I also use hot peroxide for cleaning coins. It takes the gunk off and leaves the original finish.

 

[Flintstone]

Hay gays, most important is a wife that will put up with all this. Ha Ha

 

[cwilk]

I use a ruler. Maybe I need a micrometer or calipers. They could be used to measure precious stones and all sorts of other MD related finds. Good suggestion.

Chris

 

[dahut]

Nice list Chris. I'll add just this, if I may...

2. Red Book. A Guide Book of US Coins. 10-15 dollars. Indispensable to determine if a coin you find has any value beyond face or melt value.
Consider the Blue Book instead, the one dealers use. This will give you an indication of how much money a sold coin will actually put in your hand. The Red Book value is an arbitrary reference, in general, and you will rarely - if ever - realize it.

 

[Uncle Willy]

Best stuff there is for polishing coins, jewelry, metal, is Eagle One Never Dull. What I use to make my silver SACS.

Bill

 

[Uncle Willy]

Either works better.

Bill

 

[dahut]

Just a wire mesh flower basket I got at the thrift store. I dump my pouch into it, shake it over the trash can and dispense with any mess.

 

[cwilk]

Agreed. Coin prices change too quickly for a yearly publication to be useful to determine exact value. I like the Red Book as a reference. If most Mercs listed in VG are valued at 2-3 bucks and you find one that lists at $10 you know you have something with some numismatic value. There is a lot more useful information too. Mint mark location, mintage, metal composition, error and overstrike guides, and on and on.

The Grey Sheet is the best guide to value and what most dealers use. Make friends with a dealer who subscribes and will let you use his copy from time to time. That's what I do.

Finally. I find that unless metal prices are way out of whack, if you take 75% of the Red Book listed value you'll find approximately what you would pay for a coin or what you might expect to get for it on Ebay.

Chris

 

[dahut]

Hay gays, most important is a wife that will put up with all this. Ha Ha

Hay gays? Wife? Gays and wive's??

Im confused...