ProfHaroldHill

When the local bank failed, the Blaine WA City Council, under the direction of Council President Albert Balch and Mayor CV Wilder, allocated non interest bearing municipal warrants as security and issued wooden money against the warrants. It was 1933, the heart of the Great Depression, and the council used the new wooden money to pay unemployed men to work at newly created city jobs. The businesses in the town accepted the wooden money at face value, redeeming them later with the city government. The coins were issued in 5, 10, 25 and 50 cents, as well as $1 coins. Blaine was only the second municipality in the country to issue depression era wooden money. (Tenino WA was first, in 1931.)

The rest of the story.

You're right. It's father was a 3-legged of the Denver breed, which means he, like his father, actually can't walk. It was a tragedy until by a real stroke of luck he got that job at the US Mint, posing for the reverse design of the new nickel for Jimmy Fraser. I suppose that crack I made about the Buffalo being pedestrian was insensitive. Then again, if he's anything... He's thick-skinned. Another emoji posted, another entry registered!

Sounds like this place was first class, once upon a time. Maybe they'll bring those contests back. I registered here almost seven years ago but only started posting when the PCGS forum started to crumble under the burden of a heavy handed mod crew. When they zapped the thread about having a beer or glass of wine before enjoying coins online, when there had been not even a hint of animosity at all, I knew the new mod(s?) was enforcing their own personal values and beliefs, not just keeping things civil. Hopefully this forum can revive even as the one ATS declines.

I still think the fact that the nickel has a full horn is being underappreciated. That nifty old plastic case is cool too.

I remember those days well. I used playing cards that I pilfered from the family game chest.

Not more than about six months, but @KarenHolcomb soaked hers for a year and it looks like she has about the same result. From your question though, I'm guessing the process must be a multi year endeavor.

Awesome! On your way back from buying the coins, stop by the 50s and pick up some baseball cards!

Only two entry posts in over 24 hours. Maybe I should sweeten the prize. Did I mention that the 1938-D Buffalo Nickel has a full horn? That's sweet, but maybe not sweet enough! Okay, the winner ALSO gets an original, September 1930 issue of The Numismatist, published by the ANA! Great articles and information on coins of the day, AND awesomely cool ads with prices that will make you wish you had a time machine!

"Woodgrain surface" probably isn't a good term to use, but it seems to be prevalent, so I used it here. It's actually a little misleading, I think. 'Woodgrain planchet' would probably be more accurate.

Thanks Lisa! No worries on the timing, it'll be awhile still until I need to have it certified.

I've participated in plenty of foundry pours, about 90 feet from where I now type, and I've actually studied this effect 'in depth'. (Pun intended.) I'm always happy to post in order to help others have a broader understanding of a topic, when I can, but 'debating' the cause of a well known and very much understood metallurgical phenomena is not something that I wish to do.

The lines are formed when the ingots are drawn and rolled into blanking strip. The rolling is always along the length of the strip, never 'side to side', so the lines are always nearly parallel, if not parallel. The streaks are not a form of toning, they are the structure of the metal made visible by inefficient alloying/mixing. They can run all the way through the coin. Some make 'lines', some just display mottling.

If so the effect on the surface would have worn away before the coin's reaching EF40 grade. The sub-EF coins shown above amply indicate the effect is within the metal, and not on or in only the surface, as would be found on coins subject to improper planchet finishing.

I'll see about getting word out to the old C&PM Posse. Then I'm gonna go look for my white Stetson. Time to saddle up... The Posse rides again.

This from someone who claimed to have put me on ignore. Honesty and civility seem not to be among his strong points.

Closed to new entries! @5:00 pm PDT 10-28-20 Just post an emoji or a couple of words indicating your desire to enter this stupendous giveaway! Or in 10,000 words or less, explain why you would like to win this Genuine 1938-D Buffalo Nickel. Just keep in mind that this is a random drawing. Ten thousand words won't increase your odds. Sure, a pedestrian coin, you say. But it does have a full horn! And when I got it it was in a cool old plastic holder. The winner gets that too! Postage paid! One entry per person, each will be given a number and my young grandson will pull one number, written on paper, from a box containing all the numbers on same size papers. Entries must be posted in this thread by Wednesday October 28, 5:00 pm PDT to be tossed in the box for your chance to win big. Drawing will be Thursday, October 29, after nap time, (PDT). Employees and administrators of Professor Hill's Virtual Emporium of Rare Coins and Numismatic Sundries.... NOT eligible to enter or win.

Thanks DWLange! And this is a good opportunity to thank you for your "Complete Guide to Buffalo Nickels". My softbound copy is the second most 'thumbed' book in my modest numismatic library, behind only Breen's Encyclopedia of US Coins, (hardbound, fell apart completely.) I got my copy in 1994 and your "Gallery of Errors" section was amazing... a great window on errors long before the internet could provide anything like it.

The nickel is on its way to Insider for 'further review'. This new image, (Salvador Dali-esque,) better shows the anomalous area. The perspective from the first obverse view, beneath, shows clearly there is no deformation, only missing metal.

The 1921-S at bottom has only light woodgraining, but the reverse has a unique lamination at the N in ONE where the surface seems to peel away from the right upright of the N, leaving a 'new' upright in its place.

Both are effects of poor alloying of the coinage metal and it's not uncommon to see both effects on one coin. The 1923-S with the rim to rim flaw on obverse, has the sort of woodgrain reverse that appears at first glance to be harsh cleaning.

Agreed! Don't know how customer svc. works when it comes to the boards, but I've got a question I posted at the 'Ask NGC' board and it's been there, unanswered, for several weeks now. Based on my experience, I had thought maybe I should advise the OP to send up a flare!

I never had much luck with olive oil either. Some of the fuzzy green early Brit coppers improved a bit, but for most bronze/copper, it didn't do much at all.

That would be my opinion. When the blank goes through the mill the periphery becomes more crystalline than the rest of the coin. If the blank was not annealed sufficiently prior to upsetting, the grains after the upsetting, (around the periphery,) will be so large that malleability will decrease significantly. The metal of the raised edge of the planchet that becomes the rim will contain the largest grains, since it is metal that was deformed during upsetting. So a planchet made from a poorly annealed blank will be less ductile, and under normal striking pressures the metal at the edge will not be forced up into the rim cavity where die (almost) meets collar, sufficiently to eliminate the crystalline patterns visible on the tops of the rims of your coin(s).

When I'm signed in, the feature doesn't work. If I stop by to read posts but don't sign in, it works fine. Seems opposite of what it should be. That's while using an Android phone.