Understanding the Purpose and the Author Behind It
Hello and welcome to this mess!
This mess represents my brain on thinking. A short introduction lol. You will also come to learn that me saying anything is “short” may or may not actually hold any water. If you’ve ever seen Ant-Man, the character “Luis” perfectly portrayed by Michael Peña with a Deadpool style humor and way of thinking is how you should render my thought, humor and portrayal. (Huge Marvel/Deadpool fan) and yes I am female. Would you want anything less from someone writing code let alone code for such a nerdy male-oriented hobby? LOL. Some would label me as a fire cracker. Having red hair helps. I understand, if you love coins, you are a dork, nerd, geek, and I proudly will admit the same. Except I’m worse, I’m secretly scientific and severely analytic. You will see that come out in my software.
If There Is Even a 3% Chance of It Being Relevant, It’s Going In
Ok, this is a piece of software. If there is even a 3% chance of it being relevant, it’s going in this software. I don’t care about how big the software gets, all I care about is relevance. You can use the software for what it is or you can use it for what it could be. If it is a feature, it should be in here IF it’s scientifically plausible when it comes to sheer physics, photometrics or the space/time continuum in a way that relates to uncovering a pixel of data to reveal the truth hiding within a coin, it belongs here.
One thing I have learned over the years is that a computer will never replace a working set of eyes. Now, in my middle age (what even defines that now?), is staring at coins forever has hurt my eyes. In my shop, looking through a loupe and/or microscope has led to extremely shitastic vision. This solves that main problem. So, regardless of everything packed into this suite of madness, it does serve that overall purpose.
Pulling out your phone and zooming in is great for a handful of items. Given that my actual profession is a photographer, you can start to see where this is going. I “suffer” from severe attention deficit disorder that no medicine seems to resolve. I have become over-analytical and methodical in how I think. So that is where I get into the analysis of what you see on a coin and how to get a computer to have “vision”. If you want the detail, the Learn pages go through how each measurement is actually made.
No computer or artificial intelligence agent will ever have anything to replace human eyes. This program is not artificial and I use science and the ability of computer hardware to decipher what it can see.
Artificial intelligence might suggest a feature for me to implement, but there are limitations. Human eyes are severely limited. Science is mostly limitless, always iterating to solve a problem that someday may have a solution. This program is just one iteration of solving a problem. Photography and coin collecting (and frankly metallurgy), and probably other areas can relate to understanding vision.
Who This Is For
From my point of view, which is generally speaking, always unique, there are a few different types of people with a few subsets under each one.
First we’ll call out the normal people. It’s going to be a 23 year old in 2026 who for the average of their life has used a debit card, has no clue what value silver or gold is, gets change only every now and then when they happen to have cash. They weren’t really taught in books in elementary school what coins are and also were never taught how to handwrite in cursive. That is your average 23 year old.
To contrast that, in general your average 45 year old had coins in our workbooks in elementary school, had to pass handwriting class in elementary school and grew up having to know how money works and went through an era of mostly having cash transactions, writing checks, and the last 15 years using debit cards. They always had change streaming through their hands and maybe once and a while took a second look at their change if something looked weird while it was changing hands or not at all.
Walk about 20 miles down that road and you have your die hard super rich coin collectors whose full PCGS or NGC coin collection has a full registry published online and won’t let a single cent change a hand without a microscope analyzing it at the cellular level. They also have a safe at home with different types of silver, perhaps some gold and have a full trading portfolio of stocks, bonds, and paper silver and gold.
I mean, if I add a module for keeping track of your portfolio and reconciling your bank account this software could cater to everyone.
What Doesn’t Exist Yet
One thing I discovered is that the only programs that exist for coins are basic and store a collection with information you input, or it’s AI that works off of current coin knowledge and without eyes, tries to evaluate your coin and its grade based on its ability to see your coin. There is nothing for studying coins, storing your collection, and investigating the known and unknown. That’s where we land with this piece of software.
You can opt to have artificial intelligence help you or you can use the tools in their most basic form and study. Your choice. Past meets the present and welcomes the future. All the timelines will play well with each other.
Average out the thoughts of three different artificial intelligence agents, and compare it to your knowledge. That’s why I included three agents. None of them can ever say the same thing it seems. Just like doctors need to concur with other doctors, you should always do the same in coin collecting.
To be honest, it will also help you with your eBay addiction. This will help you NOT be that seller listing a cent that claims to have 10 errors all on the obverse side or 20 errors on both sides not look like a complete idiot. You will also become the buyer that knows better than to fall for it. You know what I’m talking about if you’ve ever shopped coins or done pricing research using eBay. You’ll discover what a moron the person listing a 1998 Wide AM cent is because it becomes obvious what that means.
You love repunched mint marks? A source of constant agitation for me because they do exist, but defining them by markers only set by three different organizations is an exhausting feat, especially when most of the time they don’t agree 100%.
You Are Part of the Experiment
You’ll also see my iterations, failures and discoveries and in large part be a part of the experiment. Every update may have the most miniscule logic updated that may alter the final result while investigating a coin’s features. I will never guarantee or state that a feature is 100%. Instead, you’ll get a percentage of confidence. You can download CoinScope Pro and see exactly how that is worded on screen.
This software isn’t meant to conclude but to analyze and help you come to a conclusion. Take it at face value. It is a tool of investigation. Accept and understand the current limitations but know that there is someone pushing the envelope for better understanding of data presented.
And let’s talk kindly of the user interface. I’m working on it. That’s all I’ll say LOL. I’m working on it. Yes it needs improvement and I am always open to suggestions.
