Scales and advice on coin weighing

Blade

Now that I am getting more experienced at collecting, I am venturing more into buying raw coins. I am interested in purchasing a digital scale. I noticed that the Coin World ad for Amos has a portable scale for $90. That seems a bit high to me, but perhaps it has better accuracy / quality. Brent-Krueger has a different one for $40.

What scale do you have and what did it cost? What do you recommend? Where would be the best price to purchase at a good discount? I do want new, so am ruling out E-Bay.

How important is it that the scale weighs to one hundredths of a gram? Some coin weights go out to .01 in the Red Book, but is a tenth of gram close enough to determine authenticity? I realize that coins with wear will weigh low anyway and I am not sure about the mint's quality process to produce 1800's coins to within .01 of their spec weight.

Looking forward to a lot of advice.

darktone

I just went down to the local head shop and they had quite a few pocket scales to choose from for under $50.

Blade

Hilarious.

So can I count on most of these pocket scales being reasonably accurate?

coinpictures

At the time I was looking for scales, for the most part anything that was accurate to more than .1g was incredibly expensive. Accurate to .01g was right out.

I ended up bying a Myweigh Flipscale 125 Information Link.

It's accurate to .05g and comes with a calibration weight, as well as carrying case, small tongs, and measuring tray. Very easy to use and nice large display.

You can get them brand new on Ebay for about $50 net. Sample auction from reputable seller

My local dealer uses this one, which is accurate to .01g, but it's double the cost.

Blade

Cool ideas. So how important is it that I get more accurate than .05 grams?

darktone

<< <i>Cool ideas. So how important is it that I get more accurate than .05 grams? >>



That will work just fine for detecting counterfiets.

PerryHall

Check ebay. Many scales to choose from.

drwstr123

Blade-I don't know enough about scales to say which you should purchase but I wll tell what I have and use.
ACCULAB, model 333 electronic digital
300g capacity
+-0.1g accuracy
AC/9 volt
modes: g, oz, ozt, dwt
Got it from Edmund SCi. about a dozen years ago and its terrific.

Conder101

.1 grams is not accurate enough if yo are checking Specific Gravity as part of an authenticity test. I would require at least .05 and would prefer .01 grams. It is probably good enough to determine if the coin is within tolerance levels.