RWB

Genuine. Cleaned/scrubbed. Not really "AU-58" which is the only legitimate "about uncirculated" grade descriptor. Too much wear on portrait, eagle, and fields. It might fit what TPGs call "AU-50 or AU-55" but those are really "Extremely Fine" condition coins. The cost of $191 is about right for the actual grade, except for the date, info on the 2x2 holder is balogna. Next time be pickier about denticles and other details of the coin so you can get a nicer looking coin for the same money. (Side note -- Whenever you see coins with lots of " ++++ " signs on the holder, the chances are very good that the grader is an ignorant oaf who is deliberately lying about the coin.)

The HR DR required 3 blows from a medal press. A normal toggle press would not work. Therefore, the other mints would have had to buy medal presses, plus add to their annealing capabilities. A toggle press could produce 80 DE per minute with few breaks. It took far longer to strike one HR DE -- the number is in the book, but I forget what it was. Further it took 4 months to get Denver's equipment to strike the edge lettering and SF took 8 months. The medal presses were operated at about 130 tons, net. That was far below capacity, but about all the dies could withstand (150 max at that time). A toggle press could reach the same pressure but was hopeless to try and align 3 blows, especially with the coins being annealed between blows. (Coins change shape slightly with annealing.)

Right over here, next to the chicken soup vending machine --

Sure.

My rankings are based in part on specimens available, rather than pieces known. The rarest DE is 1927-D. MCMVII [1907] EHR/UHR should not be on the list. It is a pattern and was not a legal tender coin when produced. Lastly, there are three different varieties of 1908 DE; something which Akers did not recognize, and Breen likely did not understand.

Anything I can help with?

Saw him in the mirror this morning -- at least it looked like him/me.

NYAO, Phil Mint distribution, export reports, shipping manifests, etc.; also includes authentication company calculations, auction appearances since 1990. It is not an "easy" number to derive and all such quantities have a lower confidence level than other more easily calculated amounts. Notable among excluded info are dealer estimates, raw anecdotes, and similar biased opinions.

OK...I'll bite: Why 4 holes on obverse and 5 on reverse?

I've been asked about research on these critters, but with NARA basically closed, the project files are not yet available. None of these coins should be "authenticated" as something unusual/different until they are independently examined and researched. As I've counseled several persons/companies: do not accept any proposed title or other information until research is complete. (The coin will not magically change, as happened with some 1804 dollars.)

What are we supposed to see -- or not see? One cannot compare struck coins with a drawing.

Nice find. Phony photo (posed). Difficult to think that anyone at Spink's could write so poorly, or make so many errors in one short, very repetitive article.

Mint officers wanted to reassure President Roosevelt they were producing coins and distributing them to Sub-treasuries. All of this was exacerbated by the absence of a low relief coin until Barber finally managed to make a usable set of dies for the toggle presses and get the lettered edge collar mechanics working. (I suspect there are several edge errors and test versions out there among 1907 low relief coins, but coin holders obscure coin edges. When I wrote the DE book there were not enough 1907 DE available with edges that could be examined.)

This is now common for Florida businesses. Locally it's called "DeSantis' Iguana Tax." A side effect of the spread of Covid-19 was an increase in iguana fertility, and the small extra charge is the estimated cost of rounding up the critters and processing them into cat food, and imitation caviar exported to Russia. Putin loves the stuff on biscuits during his afternoon "tea and terror" planning meetings. He wants to force Ukrainians to "like" the stuff.

This was one of director Leach's complaints. The adjusters were also at a loss when inspecting the coins -- by normal standards nearly every MCMVII DE should have been rejected.

That's one way to go bald fast !

This is evident in most "belief" structures and is endemic in extremist viewpoints of all kinds.

Emotional connections are much stronger than we like to admit. The friend of your mother was only making a superficial reference to the fake coin. The coin was an emotional substitute for her father. Your factual response was perceived as a threat or repudiation of her father. The comment “I don’t think he would have had a counterfeit” is a clear, defensive response equivalent to her saying, "Who are you, stranger, to question MY father or attack his character?" For survivors of a decedent, this will gradually subside - especially if other fakes are not found. One method to handle this is to deflect responsibility for buying the fake from "father" to "someone who cheated father." This points emotional animosity away from you and toward an invisible, but easily culpable, "person of low character." It also removes responsibility from the deceased father to a class or category of "others."

Yes there is...I saw it on a map, I think, maybe....near Saudi Arabia.....or Cleveland.... ?

I.e., Beyond quantum physics there are few "new" questions, only different ways to ask.

Ahhhh....I will sacrifice a turnip to her forest-spirit.

There are details in From Mine to Mint, and Renaissance of American Coinage 1905-1908. Time to update you library? As JustBob noted, all the planchets are the same weight and dimensions. How could there be any "extra" gold - everything in the coin has to be in the planchet to begin with.

Ahhh...then a "true christian" she must be. It is much the same for all who claim superiority whether a "chosen people" or a "superior race." ...or an infallible numismatist. But --- they can be immense fun to tinker with -- in part because they rarely understand and think they've made a convert or acolyte.

This was among subjects discussed pre-pandemic, but it has not been mentioned since.

RE: “1907 Double Eagle High Relief - wire edge” Herb_T Posts: 721 January 16, 2022 12:19PM What effect to the overall grade does gaps/missing in areas of the wire edge have on the overall grade of the coin. Assume the rest of the coin is great. Looking for some input….,thanks in advance. MFeld Posts: 6,862 January 16, 2022 12:25PM As long as the mentioned areas aren’t due to post-strike damage, none. The above was posted on another message board and deserves a certain amount of follow-up information. Mr. Feld is spot-on in his comment. First, there is no “wire edge” double eagle – or any other U.S. coin. Edges are plain, lettered, ornamented or reeded. The characteristic being referred to is called a “fin.” It is a defect caused by mismatch between the dies and collar. A fin is especially bad for gold coins because the very thin piece of metal is easily broken off, and thus diminishes the gold content (weight) of the coin. Second, nearly all high relief MCMVII double eagles had a compete or partial fin rim from August to about mid-December when Director Leach got the Philadelphia Mint to use a different blank upsetting angle for planchets. This resulted is almost complete elimination of the defect. Engraver Barber expressed these fear that coins were so good that President Roosevelt would order their manufacture continued. See Renaissance of American Coinage 1905-1908 for details.