Hand Sorting vs Automated Sorters

[Shazbot57]

Hi, I'm new to the group but have been reading the posts for awhile. Been sorting halves for a year (60 boxes) and just started pennies (have hand sorted 6 boxes) here in fly-over country!

I was wondering as a newbie, how many of you hand sort vs automated sorters, and if so what do you use, how many rolls/boxes searched etc. I'm trying to decide whether to get a Rydale, etc or just hand sort, since the %'s seem to be steadily falling...

Any input is appreciated!

[baggerman]

%s in my area aren't falling. We get around 20% and we sort bags from a coin counter. On average we sort about $200 FV a week. The wife likes to hand sort and I have a knockoff sorter that is hand fed.

[Shazbot57]

Good to know, thanks for the info! What type of knock off?

[johnbrickner]

Bagger:

I initially started out a hand sorter, then got a Ryedale Ace a hand feed sorter that I still have. Now I graduated to a well priced slightly used Ryedale Apprentice automated sorter that had a number of extras. I still hand sort the Wheaties, Canadians, AU/BU copper, ugly Abes, and whatever else I find that comes out of it.

Don't know if I should archive the ACE or let someone else get some use out of it. I haven't used it for years now. If you have an interest in the ACE let me know, I purchased it direct from Andy at Ryedale. Guess there wasn't a lot of demand for the hand sorters as I don't see them offered on the Ryedale website now. Perhaps one of our more knowledgeable members knows the history of the ACE and it's proper use. I know it can be sensitive to being on a level surface.

[dirty fingers]

Good to know, thanks for the info! What type of knock off?

You can get a cheapo comparator (I got one prior to my ryedale), and they work very well. There is no feed system, so you have to build that. But they sort surprisingly well. Not as accurate as the comparator in the ryedale, but for $25 it was not a bad deal at all.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Copper-penny-an ... 0879787369

[J_Dodge]

John

You have a PM.

JD

[Shazbot57]

Thanks for the thoughts. I spoke to Andy at Rydale and got the lowdown on the competition but I'm still researching. I actually like hand sorting but it is slow. I check all of the mintmarks and errors. Anyone know anything about scancoin or penny miser?

[OtusLotus]

The question you need to ask yourself is what is your ultimate goal?

If you are the person that likes to look for wheats, canadians, error coins, 2009, etc then you should remain a hand sorter...

If you are the person that is looking to acquire as much copper as you can in a short period of time, then the Ryedale is for you.

Either way.. good luck and continue stacking!

[Shazbot57]

Thanks Otus! I'm trying to do both, accumulate copper & find wheats, canadians errors etc. Just looking for wisdom from the active sorters as to what the best methods & bang for the bucks might be. Not looking to resell copper immediately, just accumulate for the forseeable future. Stacking is a good thing!

[baggerman]

Good to know, thanks for the info! What type of knock off?

You can get a cheapo comparator (I got one prior to my ryedale), and they work very well. There is no feed system, so you have to build that. But they sort surprisingly well. Not as accurate as the comparator in the ryedale, but for $25 it was not a bad deal at all.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Copper-penny-an ... 0879787369

Yea I paid about $20 or so for mine. They can be found on Ebay. The ONLY reason I don't buy a Ryedale is I don't have the storage room and have not found a real steady outlet for the copper I do need to liquidate.

[Zincanator]

Here's my el-cheapo sorter. Works pretty good. I added a tiny, removable bicycle bell right where the coppers fall. They hit it and go 'DINGGGG'. Sorta fun to actually hear how many coppers I'm getting. But I'm nerdy like that.

Capture2.JPG (56 KiB) Viewed 2093 times

[uthminsta]

That's the first I've seen where someone actually wanted to ADD to the noise of the sorter!

However, I feel I should add that using an automated sorter like a Ryedale has actually helped me find MORE interesting stuff over the time I've owned it. Just because of the sheer volume of stuff I can go through, I can sit over the sorter and watch for wheats, Canadians, Indians, world coins, etc. I have access to more than I ever had when I hand-sorted. Then once everything is sorted - and it gets done quickly - I can take whatever time I wish to hand-sift through the results before I take them back to the bank.

[Diggin4copper]

I agree with uthminsta, there is still plenty of sorting to be done when using the Ryedale. The coppers and the wheats are separated from the zincs, so there is still a handsort after the primary sort.

[mlpfan]

i search by hand. i have done like almost 1000.00 face last year.
the average in my area is holding steady at 28-30 percent coppers per $100.00

[Shazbot57]

OK, I got my ryedale and I'm new to sorting but recently sorted 17 boxes of pennies with the Ryedale & I'm hooked! After handsorting 8 boxes previously this is a no brainer. I now have $175+ FV (110+ pounds) in "coppers" plus a cereal bowl of wheats and about 8 pounds Ugly Abe/green gunk coppers (stored separately) .

I still need to resort the coppers for wheats etc but I have found several rolls of wheats and my first Indian Head! Not sure if I want to resort the zincs. I had to slit and dump the plastic shrink wrapped rolls (bags not available here) and I scanned for wheats and IH's at the time. I got pretty good and can slit and dump a box of 50 rolls in about 10 minutes (without cutting myself) while quickly eyeballing for wheats, canadians and IH's. The Ryedale sort still produced another couple dozen wheats and canadians.

20 more boxes on order!

Anyway, I'm hooked!

[johnbrickner]

It was just a matter of time. Welcome to the madness.

[Shazbot57]

Thanks, thirty boxes sorted so far and I'm closing in on my second CTU! Man, do I feel small potatoes compared to some of you guys! It certainly gives me a new appreciation for what everyone has accomplished here.

I haven't done any serious double sorting yet. I have to slice open the plastic penny "condoms" in each $25 box, so I give a quick look as I dump them in a bowl then into a bucket for Ryedale later. it takes about 10 minutes per box to slit, dump & eyeball. I find most of my wheats, IH's, Canadians and dimes that way and let the Ryedale do the rest on a copper accept sort. When the Ryedale is running, I use a light and watch the two catch bins as it sorts. A few wheats & Canadians missed in the first eyeballing I catch in the Rydale sort but not many. I also pull out the Ugly Abe's and separate from the copper bin. After eyeballing I feel like it's not worth beating the machine to death a second time with 12-20 boxes to catch 1 or 2 coins. Should I be doing it differently, like Zinc accept first and then resort only the coppers or ...? Suggestions appreciated.

[Engineer]

Should I be doing it differently, like Zinc accept first and then resort only the coppers or ...? Suggestions appreciated.

Use a zinc coin in the comparitor first, then rerun with a copper in the comparitor to get rid of anything that's not a normal copper cent. This method minimizes the wear on your machine (since you aren't re-running the zincs), and does a good job of pulling out the early wheats & most Canadian copper.

[uthminsta]

I agree. It also gives you a one-sort process for taking the bulk of your stuff back to the bank. The way I do it - I bring the bags home, do a zinc accept, then the next day take them to the dump bank. Repeat that process as much and as often as possible. That just makes it so I really don't have more tied up in this than necessary.

Then when I want to sell CTU's or put copper into storage, I do a copper accept on all the stuff I have accumulated. Ryedale's pretty accurate either way, but it also helps if you play with the sensitivity dial a little bit to see that it's doing your best work.

Like you, I still hover over the bins as the coins fall... pull out whatever I see. That's just the lifelong collector in me. But speaking of hovering, I would suggest earplugs.

What's your most interesting find so far?

[Shazbot57]

In the pennies my most interesting finds so far would be a 1905 IH or a 1909 wheat, but I've only searched 30 boxes so far. In the halves-(about 78 boxes so far) along with numerous nice Walker's, Ben's, & many '64's, it would be a 1986-S Centennial Statue of Liberty commemorative clad half in AU condition! It's a shame it was a clad (first year for clads) but hey, I'll take it! Not overly valuable but a really nice find! I also have found lot's of "S" mint marks in both halves and pennies, plus Wide AM and large/small date variation pennies when hand sorting.

[fasteddy]

welcome to the madness. switch over to the zinc accept...you will like it. Soon you will have two Ryedales running a zinc accept, a third Ryedale running a copper accept and the fourth Ryedale running dimes all the while hand sorting nickels and halves. Now that is sorting. Don't forget the ear protection. The average IH find is one in every 250,000 pennies so you are doing well....looks like you may want to continue those halves until you run out of silver.

[Shazbot57]

Appreciate the kind words. I must have gotten really lucky early on because my first two boxes of halves yielded 50-90%'s & 91-40%'s. I was not only jumping up and down, but hooked! Needless to say, those %'s didn't hold. I must have cleaned out the last two boxes at my Credit Union because 12 of the next 76 boxes were good, and the others just so-so. Still, definitely worth the effort! We have several people in the area searching halves so they may be a little played out. I haven't tried dimes or nickels yet. Plenty of madness to come! I'll try the zinc accept on this next batch. I've got 18 boxes coming later this week and 6 ordered so far (till the next phone calls) for next week! After I get more established, I may take your advice on an additional machine.

[tinhorn]

Apparently you didn't heed the advice about hearing protection.

[Shazbot57]

I did put on my shooters' ears for a while last week, but the sound doesn't bother me much. Sounds like MONEY!

[Shazbot57]

Engineer, et all: When you run the first Zinc Accept with the zinc penny, do you set the comparitor all the way to the left (counterclockwise) to 100% accept? Do you leave it on the same setting when you run the copper accept with the copper pennies that were rejected on the zinc accept (with the copper coin in the discriminator)?

Wow, try saying that three times really fast!