How do I find and erase duplicated thumbnails in Aperture?

Question

I currently use Aperture 3.  Prior to using Aperture 3 I was using Iphoto and Iphoto unfortunately managed to duplicate photos by creating thumbnails 2 and even 3 or 4 times over.  This happened a couple of years ago and thus I cannot revert to a prior library.  For the past few years I was hoping apple would come up with a solution to this glitch.  Perhaps a simple software update, an app, etc.  Nothing yet. 
Anyways, is there a way to find and delete these duplicated thumbnails in a time effective fashion?  I have around 38,000 photos to sort through.  I have used Duplicate Annihilator and it does not recognize the duplicated thumbnails as duplicates.  I think this is due to their much smaller size.  Also, what is the proper way of deleting the thumbnail duplicate?  Do I delete it using just the "Delete Version" option orr do I delete the "Delete Master Image and All Versions" because I am not sure what is deemed appropriate and safe.
Finally, would it be easier to just purchase a cheap PC and have the programs available on a PC sort out this issue?  It has been a long time and I have yet to discover that apple has found a suitable solution to this issue.

Answer 1

Ernie,
I really appreciate the response.  I followed your directions and here is the info requested: 38,578 versions and 38,323 masters. 
I expect around 14,000 true master copies and the remaining masters to be duplicate thumbnails.  I arrived at this number and the conclusion that there are many duplicate thumbnails based on the customer service of Duplicate Annihilator.  After sending Brattoo (Duplicate Annihilator) some sample duplicates they responded with:
thank you for your email and sample images. You have a case of thumbnails here.
Thumbnails are low resolution photos used internally by iPhoto to speed up performance when growing the photos. However, sometimes when importing older libraries into new ones or when upgrading iPhoto those internal low resolution photos are imported as regular photos and all of a sudden your iPhoto Library is flooded with low resolution photos.
Locating thumbnail images in Aperture can be achieved using standard Aperture features. Use the Aperture search box as shown in this screenshot:
I searched out and found around 24,000 photos to be fit the size of internal low resolution photos aka thumbnails.  Then I sorted the entire photo library by file name then size and I could see what I believe is the original master version photos (average size around 1.5 mbs or so) and then following each of what I think are the original master photos is a number of duplicates photos (average size around 40kbs).  Roughly one to two small size duplicates of the original master version photo.
Therefore, I am assuming in order to get rid of duplicates I need to eliminate these small version thumbnail sized images.  I guess I will be forced to go through the whole library of 38,000 photos manually deleting each of the thumbnail duplicates.