NEWMAN PORTAL ADDS TELL-A-COIN GUIDE WHEEL

Recently added to Newman Portal are a number of images from the Eclectic Numismatic Treasure collection. Included is this "Tell-a-Coin" guide wheel, copyright 1958 by Disc-A-Log. This device was obviously intended as a rudimentary guide to grading and pricing Lincoln cents, and variants are known for Buffalo nickels, Mercury dimes, and Standing Liberty quarters).

The wheel allows the user to price each coin in the series in three grades, Good, Fine, or Uncirculated, by rotating the wheel to the desired date at the right. Invented at a time when the popularity of coin collecting was rapidly increasing, the device might have been marketed along with coin folders or other supplies. Its ultimate utility seems dubious – the same information was available in many other places, most notably the Guide Book. Perhaps this novelty was simply more "fun" to use? In any case, there are many unanswered questions – who manufactured these, who sold them, and who used them?

Link to Eclectic Numismatic Treasure image collections on Newman Portal:
https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/imagecollections?hpp=true&page=14

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web