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ProfHaroldHill

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Posts posted by ProfHaroldHill

  1. On 10/20/2020 at 6:39 PM, VKurtB said:

    Who said anything about it walking? :insane:

    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! 

  2. 18 minutes ago, bsshog40 said:

     

    Btw, NGC use to have some great weekly trivia contests back in the day. Those were fun and got a lot of participation.  

    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.

     

  3. 7 minutes ago, ronnie stein said:

    So much to do on the way back, I'm going to have to skip the baseball cards. Besides, I plan on getting an antique bicycle, and don't you just know I'd end up clothes pinning the baseball cards to the frame, angled into the spokes to make that awesome flutter noise.  :)

    I remember those days well. I used playing cards that I pilfered from the family game chest. 9_9

  4. 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!

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    IMG_20201019_164816~2.jpg

  5. 3 minutes ago, RWB said:

    When the US mint mad

    Possibly, or maybe not.

    The "wood grain" appearance is so common that the same alloy problem would have to affect hundreds of melts every year. Plus planchets were purchased from Scovill and other vendors for decades, yet the effect remains.

    I think one of the above posts has a typo, also. The mints actively stirred every melt to ensure mixing. Without that the alloy metals would segregate and the ingots would be condemned - meaning it all would have to be done again.

    As mentioned before - an awful lot of "coin theories" assume Mint employees were ignorant dolts, incompetent and habitual liars --- but we won't go down that dirt road.

    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. 

     

  6. 3 hours ago, Moxie15 said:

    Many years ago I worked in a foundry for a while and they would put the metals and carbon of other 'ingredients' in a pot bring it to a desired temp for a certain amount time. I do not see how this would cause lines in the coins when it toned. I think it is caused by some other problem like impurities.

     

    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.

  7. 19 hours ago, RWB said:

     

    Frankly, I disagree with the alloy theory. I suspect final planchet cleaning/whitening was the culprit.

    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.

  8. On 10/14/2020 at 3:02 PM, Insider said:

    If the dozen members posting in this part of the NGC forum were to ask one of their friends on another forum to drop in over here and post a discussion (or not) it would double the activity.  

    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. 

  9. On 10/14/2020 at 5:39 PM, physics-fan3.14 said:

     

     

    If you find me annoying, can you even comprehend how annoying I find you? Or Quintus Arrius? Or ProfHaroldHill? I'd bet 50% of posts in the past week are from the three of you, and not a single useful thing has been typed between the lot of you. 

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

  10.  

    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. 

     

  11. 2 hours ago, DWLange said:

    This was my take on the woodgrain effect in copper and bronze coins. Bear in mind that it was written 18 years ago and may not be absolutely current in some respects (the photo of me certain is not!).

    https://www.ngccoin.com/news/article/726/

    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. (thumbsu

  12. On 10/11/2020 at 8:29 PM, KarenHolcomb said:

    So I been soaking these in Olive Oil, Extra Virgin of course, for a year now. I just finished going through the last bit of my Memorial Coppers that I been saving and have nothing else besides World Coins to sort so I guess it's time to get the oil off these. They sure don't look any better than the 11th of last year.  

    Next stop...the World is mine.

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    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.

  13. On 10/16/2020 at 8:15 AM, Insider said:

    It is not damage!!!   I thought some kind of die fatigue too.  Due to the responses I now wonder if the planchet was not annealed properly and the upset mill did this. 

    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).

  14. 1 hour ago, dena said:

    I see this on posts where there are reactions:

    image.png

    Is this what you mean? If you click on the numbers next to the icons you can see all who had that reaction. Are you not seeing that? If not, I'm wondering if it is something in the settings. Let me know if you don't see that.

    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.