Stick to the terms defined in the Charlton guide and unlike our presbyoptic friend here, follow the strict definition of a rotator that DOES NOT INCLUDE ONES.
Do you work for Charlton? I don't see why collectors need to limit themselves to the arbitrary choices made by the catalogue as to which "special" numbers to promote. Every serial number is unique and if a collector sees something special in it it's his choice to collect it. Charlton should not be taken as an unquestionable authority on what's collectable or not. I think alot of collectors would find a pseudo-rotator interesting (esp. with the aging baby boomer population ), not to mention many possible numbers that could be collectable... :-/
No, I don't work for Charlton, but I do have a problem with people twisting the definition of a term to include notes that were never meant to be included in such a definition. Doing so broadens the definition of that term and reduces the scarcity and uniqueness of a true note of that definition.
Think about it, if we called rotators any number that can be read upside down, including using any "questionable" or "presbyoptic" digits such as 1, 5 and 2, then there are a potential 823,543 such notes per 10,000,000-note prefix. That's an 8% ratio. The strict definition of a rotator is any number such that when rotated upside down, it is legible as the exact same number. It also specifies that the centre digit must be 0 or 8, and that the remaining digits be 0, 6, 8 or 9. The digits on one side are specified by the digits on the other side (like a radar... if the first 3 digits are 688, the last three HAVE TO be 889. Any other note from that brick is not a rotator). Following these rules, there are at most 127 rotators per 10,000,000-note prefix. That is a ratio of 0.00127%. Considerably rarer than our much more broad definition, isn't it? (
Trust me on the math. It is correct, but if you absolutely must have the calculations explained to you, PM me).
I also have a special concern for rotators as I was the person who wrote the article for the CPMS newsletter that started this whole cummotion a couple years ago.
I have no issue with people thinking certain numbers are interesting for whatever reason, but don't say 0123405 is a laddar note, don't say 1113311 is a radar and don't say 6669966 is a rotator. I'm not being hypocritical here either... Those 3 numbers I just mentioned come from my own collection. I note each one of them as a "fancy number", an arbitrary term for numbers that look kinda cool but fail to be otherwise categorized. I do NOT imply that they are laddars, radars, rotators, or anything of the like, because the fact remains that they are not.
« Last Edit: August 30, 2006, 05:36:17 pm by BWJM »
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BWJM, F.O.N.A.
Life Member of CPMS, RCNA, ONA, ANA, IBNS, WCS.
President, IBNS Ontario Chapter.
Treasurer, Waterloo Coin Society.
Show Chair, Cambridge Coin Show.
Fellow of the Ontario Numismatic Association.