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Coin Tech Talk Forum • Coin Testing Equipment

2026-04-17T00:17:19-04:00

After retiring last year, I have restarted my coin collecting hobby that I had when I was a teenager back in the 1960's. Over the last 9 months I have invested in a lot of coins. I am thinking about purchasing one of the Sigma Metalytics machines. On their website there is a long wait time to get a new machine. I have not acquired an "eye" to detect fake coins as I am just learning all of the nuances of the Morgan, Peace, Silver Eagles, etc. I have heard both pro and con relative to buying one of these devices. On the Sigma website, one of their PMV Original devices is $1,000. This is a lot of money, but how can I be sure that coins are legitimate? Especially if the coins are in a plastic case like a GSA Silver Dollar case or a PCGS or NGC case? I know to buy coins from a reputable source - but that may not be possible ALL of the time. One of my GSA coins came from Portsmouth Coin, another came from SD Bullion. What if I want to test foreign coins? My dad (RIP) left me a LOT of foreign coins - about 10 pounds. Some of them might be some percentage of silver.

Will the Sigma device identify if a coin is 64% silver like the Netherlands 25c coins I have? See attached photo.

Any advice or suggestions?

Statistics: Posted by moonbuzz — Fri Apr 17, 2026 12:17 am — Replies 0 — Views 1

Non-Numismatics...Keep it civil! • He is Risen - Hallelujah!

2026-04-05T12:24:13-04:00

Happy Easter to all our wonderful members. May you have a great time with family and friends today.

Statistics: Posted by Earle42 — Sun Apr 05, 2026 12:24 pm — Replies 9 — Views 127

Non-Numismatics...Keep it civil! • US Mint Ditching Human Artists for AI

2026-04-01T14:07:54-04:00

Yesterday evening on March, 31st the US Mint has announced they will be replacing their medallic artists with generative AI. This new age of US coinage will be designed using Open AI's Chat GPT as well as X's Grok. Mint Director, Paul Hollis states that this will streamline the design process. "Removing the necessity for artistic talent greatly increases our ability to keep producing new designs at much lower costs, which is best for our bottom line. My bonus at the end of the year, that is." Says Mr. Hollis.

With the groundwork laid out for generative AI, the CCAC will now be able to write prompts based on committee input, and have hundreds of results to choose from within minutes. Rather than waiting for artists to slowly and painstakingly craft each individual detail for just one design. A design that "may not even be that good, which many of them are these days." Mr. Hollis stated in a press release. "That is why we are canning these designers and replacing them with a cheaper, more efficient machine."

Starting as soon as February 2027, the US Mint could be producing these new AI-created designs. Several tests generations have been done, and the mint has released a few concept designs. The first is an obverse design featuring a classical depiction of a bust of Lady Liberty in profile.

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In efforts to redesign the United States' silver bullion coin, known as the "silver eagle" they have had Open AI render a realistic depiction of an eagle landing on an olive branch holding arrows as an idea for a new reverse to the world famous bullion coin.

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The Treasury Bureau has made it clear that these designs are not finalized, and only for testing purposes to assess the public perception of AI generated designs.

In contrast to the few successful generations, AI has struggled numerous times. Often producing hundreds of bad, or downright nonsensical depictions before happening to produce something visually pleasing by pure chance. Take for example this sad attempt, jokingly dubbed the "Friendly Fire" design by CCAC members for the awkwardly misplaced arrows.

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The US Mint plans on only keeping a Chief Engraver employed as it is a necessary position to "touch up" details, and bring the coin from a virtual design, to a physical object. The current Chief Engraver, Joseph Menna, says he plans on standing in solidarity with his fellow artists and resigning his position as Chief Engraver if they go through with the current plan of replacing artists with AI.

To no one's surprise, this change has angered many medallic artists. One such artist, John McGraw, states "This is just monkeys on a typewriter. Given enough chances, one will eventually produce Hamlet, but there will be no understanding of why it is good or what the meaning of it is. The soul of an artist will be void in anything produced with this new technology."

Now the US Mint is waiting for public opinion on the matter. Will people even want to purchase new coins created using AI? Is it worth the cost cutting if there may be a boycott of US Mint products? These are the next things the mint is trying to ascertain before going ahead with the 2027 plan.

Statistics: Posted by Westin — Wed Apr 01, 2026 2:07 pm — Replies 19 — Views 239

Non-Numismatics...Keep it civil! • pop up ad's

2026-03-29T08:30:07-04:00

Hi all,been away from the forum for a while,when did the pop up's start? cheers...

Statistics: Posted by Fire Patrol 2 — Sun Mar 29, 2026 8:30 am — Replies 3 — Views 55

Coin Tech Talk Forum • Test

2026-03-25T21:22:02-04:00

Test

Statistics: Posted by Daniel — Wed Mar 25, 2026 9:22 pm — Replies 2 — Views 41

Non-Numismatics...Keep it civil! • Silver Advice

2026-03-21T13:31:13-04:00

I have a friend that is 66 years old. He has a net worth of approximately $3.8 million. Included in his asset base is an investment of roughly $100,000 in silver bullion. Unfortunately a significant amount of the silver bullion he purchased was in the $100/ounce range so there are significant unrealized losses in his silver. His risk tolerance is moderate.

He has asked me if he should stay out of the silver market and hope for a price recovery or purchase more silver bullion to lower his dollar cost averaging. I told him i thought this would be a good forum to get some opinions as to his strategy.

I’d appreciate anyone’s thoughts on this situation.

Thanks

Statistics: Posted by Steve1960 — Sat Mar 21, 2026 1:31 pm — Replies 9 — Views 85

Non-Numismatics...Keep it civil! • 2025 Libertad tribute ebay sold

2026-03-14T22:58:02-04:00

https://www.ebay.com/itm/157305381046?_ ... earch=true

Statistics: Posted by HonestAbe801 — Sat Mar 14, 2026 10:58 pm — Replies 4 — Views 45

Non-Numismatics...Keep it civil! • Stagflation in 2026?

2026-03-09T09:34:45-04:00

I read a couple of articles from economists forecasting a period of stagflation in the U.S., should the conflict in Iran continue for more than a couple of weeks. To see if this was an outlier I ran a search for 'stagflation 2026'. If there were just one or two articles about stagflation in 2026 I would view it as an outlier. However, several articles are from experts in the field of economics including articles in Business Insider and Forbes.
How will this affect numismatics? With stagflation, prices and interest rates will climb while wages go down and unemployment goes up. So people may not have ready cash to purchase coins, which could drive the numismatic prices down.
Does this sound like I'm panicking? Not really. I saw this happen before in the 1970s. How serious will this one be? All I can suggest is to be prepared for any upset to our economy.

Statistics: Posted by OregonBeachBum — Mon Mar 09, 2026 9:34 am — Replies 18 — Views 306

Want Lists - Post Your Want List • Searching for BU/RED 1911-1933 Wheat Cents

2026-03-03T16:45:28-04:00

I am looking to purchase raw BU/RED Wheat Cents dated 1911-1933 to complete my Lincoln Head Cent Collection. If you have any in these dates for sale, please text me at [removed personal data - never good or safe to pst such things online]
[/quote]

Statistics: Posted by TBCOINS — Tue Mar 03, 2026 4:45 pm — Replies 2 — Views 170

Non-Numismatics...Keep it civil! • 1st coin show as a dealer this Sunday in Dayton,OH!!

2026-02-23T12:50:31-04:00

Well I'm setting up this Sunday in Dayton, Oh
*I will be wearing my driver's license as my ID tag, w/lanyard
*I will be audio/video recording all my transactions
*Sigma will be available
*Specific gravity tests will be available
*Calculator with 2 ply paper will be available

Hopefully I will be setting up in Chillicothe the following Sunday

Will post pictures in future of my set up

Any ideas or comments?

Statistics: Posted by HonestAbe801 — Mon Feb 23, 2026 12:50 pm — Replies 5 — Views 220

Want Lists - Post Your Want List • No Pictures?

2026-02-18T21:17:21-04:00

Hello.

I can't add files or copy and post images either. When I tried to add a file, it said error and lol, illegal. What's going on?

Statistics: Posted by Mellogrrl65 — Wed Feb 18, 2026 9:17 pm — Replies 5 — Views 283

Non-Numismatics...Keep it civil! • 1939 NYC World's Fair Stamps....

2026-02-16T20:08:48-04:00

1939 NYC World's Fair Stamps....Values and Grade please...

Statistics: Posted by SensibleSal66 — Mon Feb 16, 2026 8:08 pm — Replies 4 — Views 205

Coin Tech Talk Forum • 2025 silver proof set

2026-02-16T19:04:16-04:00

I just got the 2025 silver proof mint set still in the Mint box.Could I or should i leave it in the box so as to be first release if graded.Thank you i'm new and appreciate your kindness.

Statistics: Posted by Eds338 — Mon Feb 16, 2026 7:04 pm — Replies 3 — Views 199

Non-Numismatics...Keep it civil! • 1troy ounce 999.9 suisse

2026-02-08T15:13:29-04:00

Thoughts??
Will do a specific gravity test tomorrow.

Statistics: Posted by HonestAbe801 — Sun Feb 08, 2026 3:13 pm — Replies 25 — Views 593

Non-Numismatics...Keep it civil! • Potential Psy-Op in the works, I wanted to predict this before it happens

2026-02-08T00:38:08-04:00

Ok maybe not a prediction Just a hunch. A psy-op, short for psychological operation, is a planned operation designed to influence the emotions, attitudes, opinions, or behavior of a target group—such as an enemy, a population, or even a specific audience—to achieve a strategic objective.

And here is the distraction: The whole Savanahh Guthries mom kidnapping is getting way too much coverage. Even Trump announced about it and it's been front page #1 headlines for 2 days on google news. That is massive exposer. There are so much more important things, so much worse, etc that should be the $1 news right now. Yes it's terrible she got kidnapped, but this does not normally make the president and front page USA google headlines for 2 days.

So here's my prediction: Very soon the kidnappers are going to be caught and arrested. Most likely there are going to be of the nationality that Trump is wanting to go to war with, and/or have leverage over: Possible options: #1 Mexican cartels= the kidnappers... giving Trump the push to go to "war" in Mexico against the Cartels. #2- some form of illegal Immigrant: possibly from Haiti or Africa, or South American country. #3 some n"new" threat, like the Chinese Mafia or something. ..

Look I don't know, but one thing I DO know is there's no way this story gets as much press coverage and even presidential coverage without being some form of Psyop- Maybe I got the details wrong, maybe I got the wrong intentions, but this is 100% fourth page news.. not first, not for two days.

So who knows- while we are looking over here- something is going on " over there" that's how stage magic- aka attention manipulation works.

I just wanted to post this before we find out who the kidnappers are so I can say " told you so"

What does everyone else think? Do I need to lay off the conspiracy theory kool-aid?

Statistics: Posted by Makes Cents — Sun Feb 08, 2026 12:38 am — Replies 8 — Views 417