RWB

The Mints do not use scrap metal. Reuse water damaged planchets? Ridiculous. Unless the place you read it has a US Mint or Secret Service report or letter as its source, it is mostly bovine excrement...with processed imitation cheese food on top.

The recovered counterfeits were destroyed. The metal included impurities not found in US nickels and it was sold as scrap. There is no evidence that the metal was reused at any US Mint and there is no reason for a mint to do so.

A modern digital scale should measure to the ten-thousandth gram and display to the thousandth with repeatable results. However, most inexpensive scales the displaying to the thousandth only average the 3rd decimal so they are actually accurate to the hundredth of a gram, and that might not be repeatable. (Note -- at 0.0001 gram you have to use an air cover over the scale.)

I have two little draft articles ready for publication, and I think they would benefit from the thoughts of a couple of collectors. The purposes are: pick up typos, continuity, and and overall accessibility. Anyone who is interested just send me a PM with your email and I'll send PDF files. One deals with Isabella commemorative quarters and the other with arrows and rays on 1853 silver coins. Anyone reading the articles must agree to confidentiality until after they are published, and not to extract any portions without permission.

"We Buy Everything -- Even Granny's Knickers !"

It's interesting to note that with exception of the 1865-S eagle mentioned by Mr. Lange, inverted date (and similar) die errors occurred during the decades when working dies were made by the Chief Coiner's Department - not the Engraving Department.

VKurtB's comment/question reaches to the core of behavior by inexperienced people in any endeavor. The easiest explanation to understand is "emulation." Mass hysteria media (aka "social media") promotes acceptance by emulation of public examples. Novices read examples of common-appearing (to them) "graded coins" worth hundreds or thousands of dollars and quickly make the false connection that "grading = value." Thus, they seek to imitate - a very natural human and primate behavior. To a novice the slabbed MS-65 and the raw 1940 are "the same" except for grading, thus, if grading is imitated the 1940 nickel will be worth more just like the "same" MS-65. Humans do this with almost everything we encounter - it is not specific to coins, stamps, bottle caps or land. The "greener pastures" are not caused by the fence, but by the fertilizer of knowledge.

Just an opinion: I don't see any coins on this thread worthy of spending $35-$50 on for "grading", paving, line painting or anything else. Put 'em in a mylar 2x2 and enjoy them.

It's a legal imitation of a very rare US coin. Its minimum value is 1.3 ounces of 0.999 fine silver (pure). Some collectors like these, some don't. They have limited collector value. The ones in your "American Mint" link are steel, not silver and worthless.

Nope.

A couple of things can be learned from this. 1. The date was added to a dateless working die. 2. All four digits were punched simultaneously. 3. A 4-digit logo punch was used, or a 3-digit plus 1-digit assembled gang punch was used. (I favor the latter because the last "8" is crooked.) 4. It required more than one blow to enter the date. 5. The inverted partial date shows only the upper-most surface of the date digits. (This explains the crooked base on the inverted date's "1".) Do these observations extend to other denominations and dates?

Have my SmartCheckInTicket but still looking for a reason to go. Nothing to buy or sell, and don't have any research pieces to check.... But it would be nice to see folks.

Was it delivered today?

Cent planchets were purchased under contract to Scoville Mfg Corp. They were spot checked for diameter, thickness and weight. Struck cents were checked en mass (count vs weight). The only zinc at the Philadelphia Mint was used for precipitating silver during refining. By 1899 final refining was done electrolytically. (See my book From Mine to Mint for details.)

The white background will appear gray because the metal coin reflects more light than white paper. That's OK. It is accuracy of the coin color that is important.

Here is your second photo with adjustments to the tonal range. No change was made to the color balance - this is on the nose. The image is not as sharp as the one in your first post.

The Library Company of Philadelphia welcomes applications for a new fellowship to explore the social and political history of the U.S. Mint and numismatics during the early 1840s to late 1860s as it relates to the political, economic, and social environment leading up to and immediately following the American Civil War. This is a great opportunity, for someone - https://librarycompany.org/numismatic-innovation-fellowship/. It includes 4-8 weeks lodging in Philadelphia plus a $5,000 honorarium. Applications due March 1, 2022.

Yep....Now if there had been some 1840 FE dollars.... ! (They might have been sold as fakes.)

Inscrutable German engineering. After all, they built working jet aircraft, ballistic missiles, energy dissipating armament, highways with no speed limit, etc., etc.

You sure that's not a beer can opener? Photo is clear and sharp without excess contrast. Nice. Now, try an uncirculated silver dollar; and see if you can figure out the color balance. (I can measure the color of any posted photo if you wish. Just use a plain white background.) Digital cameras are calibrated using 18% neutral gray. This represents an "average" daylight scene. If the real scene is dominated by one color, the camera software tries to compensate by adding more of the opposite color to the photo....that is, it tries to make everything "average" again. This did not happen with photographic film because the film was manufactured to a standard color balance and could not be changed.

Nope. Nothing needed for current research. I bought two of the 2021 Peace imitations from the Mint. That's the budget for this year.

"Unfinished" How stupid. The coins are finished, completed. They are errors made by using an incorrect die pair.

Quintus - Thanks for the tip. I checked the expiration date on my double eagles but couldn't find one. All I found were Greek letters.....like omega, etc.

Lighting for circulated coins is usually simple. Problems jump out when trying to get good photos of uncirculated coins. Using a short tube or other black-painted baffle helps control stray light, and is necessary for good axial lighting. Here's your obverse photo with some color and density adjustments. Color was balanced to neutral at the center of Liberty's cheek - this might be affected by the shadow from your cell phone. (PS: The blue color is from the camera trying to make the scene "average." This is not caused by the blue background -- over correction would make everything yellow, not blue.

There are probably patent illustrations -- someplace. I've seen the presses up close, but much of the "guts" are not visible due to protective shielding (This protects against Romulan phaser blasts.)