Searching in Zeno

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This thread is inspired by this one.

Here are some of my search strategies. In the first case, the thread contains a Zeno number. In the second case, the coin is more or less identified and I want a Zeno number for cross referencing. In the third case, a coin is submitted for identification.

1. If you have a Zeno catalogue number, locate the box labelled Enter the coin number:" at the top of the page, leftish. Enter the number, click search. Unless the number entered is wrong, this strategy will work.

2. Finding a Zeno catalogue number
If you see "Extended Search" in the first bar, click it. Otherwise, click the red logo top left and click "Extended search". This will bring you to the search form.

The search form consists of lines with a field name, like "Category", and bars, in which you can type search terms.

In many instances, e.g. Google searching, using as many search terms as possible will give the fastest results, because the software will ignore words it doesn't find. e.g. a search for Norwegian coin will give a large number of hits. Add 1953 and you get fewer hits. Add supercalifragilisticexplialidocious and you get the same hits. In Zeno, it is the other way around. All terms used must be present in a listing before it becomes a hit. A difference in field or spelling generally does not lead to a hit. If you search for three or more terms, you are quite likely to get NO RECORDS FOUND!, due to spelling issues or using the wrong search field.

The exception to the rule is the metal, since you are quite likely to know which metals to de-select. Make that the first thing you do.

If you have a date, enter it in the Date min: field. For a date range, use min and max, with max being one year after the end of the date range.

For most other search terms, the safest option is to use the bar labelled "Or any text search:" Use underscore to diminish spelling issues: "Samar_and" will find Samarkand as well as Samarqand. This field takes all words you type as one string.

If you get no hits at this point, change a search term. If you do get hits, see if you can find a somewhat similar coin and learn which fields contain which text. Now play with the search terms to get the hits down to a reasonable number.

Hypothetical example:
Metal group = AR(BI) plus Details = dang plus text search = Juchid yields 1465 hits.

Add Jani Beg. Zero hits.

Delete Juchid and you get 277 hits. Looking at the first few hits, you notice Khwarizm. Darn. You thought that was spelled Khwarezm. Enter the mint as Khwar_zm. Hits are down to 8.

With some practice, this works very often.

3. Identification
Go the "Extended search" form and use as above. If you know practically nothing about the coin and you cannot read Arabic, try searching for metal, weight range and size range. Play with the numbers until you get a manageable number of hits. If you get few hits and none is what you are looking for, enlarge the ranges. As you get closer, add search terms. This search strategy will often fail.

Please add your strategies or experience.

Peter