| 2000
| ScrapBook
Subjects
|
Page
Index
Links
|
Link:
Will The Real Proof Please Stand Up?
Link:
An Exceptionally Rewarding Experience
Link:
1787 Brasher Doubloons
Link:
Thinking Outside The Box
Link:
1796 HalfCent Silver Overstrikes
Link:
High Relief MercuryHead and IndianHead Dies
Link:
High Relief Tokens Struck
|
|
Enlargement scans available on WWW and ScrapBook CD-ROM.
|
|
| 11/11
|
|
Click on image for enlargement
|
|
-
Will The Real Proof Please Stand Up?
When I told Ron Landis I had purchased a proof 1795 Half Eagle he became
immediately concerned and told me that toward the end of the
uncirculated production run the specimens came out exceptionally
"prooflike" so I should check the piece to be certain. I too became
immediately concerned because I had paid a significant premium for my
specimen since it was attributed as a Proof strike but did not come with
the flip insert with the proof number stamped on it. Since I didn't have
it with me I couldn't ask Ron to check it for me.
Can anyone tell me how to
tell
the Proof die from the Uncirculated
die?
I am assuming there are distinct differences between the two dies.
EMail:Verne R. Walrafen
|
|
|
| 11/11
|
|
-
An Exceptionally Rewarding Experience
I purchased a silver 1787 New Jersey Maris51g piece (shown above) from
a gentleman on the East Coast expecting a "normal" specimen. When it
arrived I was elated to discover that it was an extremely late strike
with numerous CUDs on both obverse and reverse dies. So immediately I
started wondering if this was a special circumstance...such a late die
strike. Perhaps this was a strike made after the normal production run
of copper pieces.
THEN...the sort of experience that happens far too seldom in a person's
lifetime. A corresponding friend sent me a gift of a copper specimen
(shown below) struck from the dies in the identical late die state. It
was one of two pieces he purchased in the secondary market. He bought
both pieces the dealer had because, in his opinion, they were so
beautiful. I TOTALLY agree with his assessment. Thanks my friend!
EMail:Verne R. Walrafen
|
|
|
|
| 11/10
|
|
-
1787 Brasher Doubloons
An extract from my copy of "A Guide Book Of United States Coins",
p.44 51st Edition 1998 by R.S.Yeoman would be most useful here.
Perhaps the most famous pieces coined before establishment of the U.S.
Mint at Philadelphia were those produced by the well-known goldsmith and
jeweler, Ephraim Brasher, who was a neighbor and friend of George
Washington, in New York.
The Brasher made gold pieces weighed about 408 grains and were valued at
$15 in New York currency. The unique 1787 gold half doubloon is struck
from doubloon dies on an undersized planchet that weighs half as much as
the larger coins.
Yeoman goes on to tell us that the unique half doubloon is in the
Smithsonian Collection and that the unique doubloon with EB punch on
breast sold in a 1981 Garrett Sale for $625,000. Interestingly enough
the doubloon with the EB punch on wing sold in a 1979 Garrett Sale for
$725,000 so being a unique specimen doesn't always make it the most
valueable piece.
Speaking of being unique... the half doubloon shown above has a "RL"
punch instead of emulating the regular "EB" punch. Ron Landis recalls
making one special piece like this for a collector who still has his
piece. There is no documentation on how this piece got made but it has a
certificate of authenticity numbered #101. There is no question that it
came from GMM and now it is in my GMM/Landis collection.
:-)
I also purchased the doubloon with the "EB" on the wing off eBay
yesterday while the other doubloon with the "EB" on the breast went to
another GMMnut.
EMail:Verne R. Walrafen
|
|
|
| 11/10
|
|
-
Thinking Outside The Box
"What if I took a struck dime...?" I can just see the wheels
turning in Cliff's head. I can almost hear them all the way from
Portland clear out here in Kansas. This is what makes collecting
FUN!
"...and laid it face down on a blank cent planchet?" Now we
all know. What a beautiful pièce de caprice (my newly acquired word for
the day!) Cliff did some really creative thinking here with an
inspirational twist. Like all great ideas it is simple after somebody
else thinks of it!
EMail:Verne R. Walrafen
|
|
|
| 11/10
|
| |
Sterling Silver Canadian George V Quarter
|
|
|
|
| 11/5
|
|
Click on image for enlargement
|
|
-
High Relief MercuryHead and IndianHead Dies
The 1999 Omaha National Token And Medal Show token obverse
die trial specimen above is hot struck silver with medal die alignment
and paired with one of Ron's neat Gallery Mint Museum seal dies.
The 1999 Milwaukee Numismatic Society piece first below is
hot struck silver, the 1999 Arkansas Numismatic Society
piece second below is pewter and the 1999 Good For $5 In
Trade token in the previous ScrapBook subject is nickel. All
three pieces were struck with coin die alignments. Now all I gotta do is
find an example of this die in copper. Anybody got some extra gold?
;-)
EMail:Verne R. Walrafen
|
|
| |
Click on either image for enlargement
|
|
|
| 11/5
|
|
Click on image for enlargement
|
|
-
High Relief Tokens Struck
Coins are not high relief primarily because of the need to stack them.
Tokens can be high relief if the dies and equipment are up to the high
striking pressures necessary to create the pieces. Ron came up with his
own solution and the results are simply stunning! The token design
itself contains elements that force the planchet metal into the high
relief areas of the opposing die. Here are two such creations that I am
totally enamored with.
The 1999 Omaha National Token And Medal Show token, shown
above, was struck over Lincoln cent pieces with medal die alignment in
August 1999...100 pieces were created. The 1999 Gallery Mint Good
For $5 In Trade token, shown below, was struck over Jefferson
nickel pieces with coin die alignment in August 1999...50 pieces were
created.
My corresponding friend
EMail:Doug
sent us a scan many months ago showing a brass die trial strike of the
Omaha NTAMS token but it was not struck up enough to read the OMAHA on
the reverse. Sure is great to find the regular issue piece so that we
now know more about Doug's piece, shown at right.
I know of other GMM/Landis creations that use both of these high relief
obverse dies and I will show you in the next ScrapBook subject. However,
none of them use this particular "design element" solution to attain
sharp high relief strikes.
EMail:Verne R. Walrafen
|
| |
Click on image for enlargement
|
|
|
/\
__ __
__ __
__
__ __
__ __
__
__ __
__ __
__
__ __
__ __
__
__ __
__ __
__
__ __
__ __
__
|
