RWB

Well......I put my dirty coins in the local 7-11 parking lot for a week or two. That cleans off any corrosion. Of course, there are certain negatives to that - especially hard on proof coins.....

These Belgian coins were actually struck on leftover US 1943 cent planchets in 1944. PS: The nickel looks circulated and then plated. The kind of "oily" appearance is common for pure nickel plating....but it's certainly not an original US mint-issued product.

Don't know where you got the table but it's wrong. War 5-cent 8.662 Clad 8.945 Lg copper cents 8.96 (usually lower due to impurities) FE cents 8.953 4.87 g/cu3 mm is impossible for any magnetic metal. That's only a little above Titanium at about 4.51.

...and a fine bangle it will make.

Drama sells. Truth dispels. Guessing and making dramatic claims bring attention. It makes the speaker seem authoritative, and to have "inside" information no one else has. They feel important and are asked to repeat their claims for dramatic effect. This similar cadre will boast about anything, anytime - and continue to do so until it is no longer profitable. Then, they will move on to antique Beanie Babies held in a secret stash in the pyramid of Pharaoh Menkaure. Ask for the full story of the "Wells Fargo" double eagles. You will get silence. The truth would break the dramatic mystery.

This is the key statement. It does not matter what I "believe." It only matters what is real and can be verified. Not one of the writers mentioned, or their ilk, provide any independently verifiable data. Thus, they are not reliable or trusted sources. Note that central bank assets are not typically related to population, except for current accounts, although I understand your reasoning.

The table uses two differing scales for price and premium. You will get an accurate pair of graphs by using only the premium % on a linear scale.

...and not a verifiable source among them. "Very low premiums" are caused by limited demand, not any so-called "overhang" ....or maybe they are "orphans." Lots of things are "theoretically possible" but we have to look at deal data and objective reporting. The Tripartite Gold Commission numbers are through and give us a clear baseline for determining what was looted from France and other banking systems. Coins melted and cast into bars in Sweden, Germany, and elsewhere are less well defined, but those "coins" are no longer "coins" so they cannot overhang anything. The Travers, Roberts, and comments/similar claims by others are precisely why I check them only AFTER all the other research, and then place very little authority in them.

A nice VF from the photos. (The contrast is high and all four are out of focus.)

OK. Thanks for the extra information, photos and time. Maybe I need new glasses....? Or -- maybe just a couple of glasses of Scotch.

Ross is building on his investigations, acquired knowledge and new information to present material in a clear, accessible manner - and to a potentially wide audience. That was part of my goal in preparing the SG book in content and form, even though it differs from what is considered "typical." Ross, Goldfinger, and others will continue to simplify, clarify and expand as time passes....Heck, maybe I won't be around to contribute to the 2nd Edition - we don't know? I am very pleased with the book's reception and the general understanding that it is "a start" not an end. (A Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle article will be out soon by another writer.)

Must have been tough on the digestion...

It's the famous "Damaged D" mintmark.....

Nice coin, nice design. C. Barber was capable of interesting design work, he just rarely did so. PS: What happened to the Goddess' elbows? Did this Goddess lack "funny bones?"

Thanks! Sometimes he got a little overly enthusiastic; anyway, the estimates are 9 years old.

If the bottom one is tilted, why is the coin almost perfectly round? It should be slightly oval. I agree that there should be no intentional distortion of image geometry. (Not trying to be a pest -- just want to understand the differences in coin color, etc.)

Bob, I'm confused. The bottom photo is described as having the coin tilted, but when I copy it and past into Photoshop it is almost perfectly circular. The copy below was color corrected based on the upper right prong being neutral white. Am I reading your comments incorrectly?

Some thoughts: #1 – A very large sample of all Morgan dollars, from most dies still exist. That allows subdivision of die varieties and exploration of minutiae not possible in other coin series. DE – Liberty and S-G – have only a tiny scattering of samples from die pairs available. Most were melted and will never be known. This limits the opportunity to locate new varieties to possibly a few dates, such as 1927 or 28, or 24, where we have a large supply of coins. Further, large quantities of Morgan and Peace dollars are free of restrictive slabs. That’s not the case with DE. On the positive side of this is that VAMs are self-strangling -- too much tiny stuff, too much tossing words about without clear meaning, etc. #2 – I really doubt there are 25,000 DE collectors. Even 500 “register” sets seems high. A promotional leaflet given out by DE sellers might be helpful – if the dealers can be truthful and not promote the phone “old-bug” nonsense.

Three dollar gold coins were widely counterfeited in the 19th and early 20th centuries. This had little to do with numismatic value. The imitations were made for the jewelry trade where $3 coins were very popular. (Gold dollars were also extensively used in jewelry.) These brass fakes were substitutes for authentic coins in cheap jewelry, and not for passing them as real coins in commerce. Overall, deceptive counterfeits for numismatic sale did not appear until the 1950s in Syria, Lebanon and Israel.

The full coin photo suggests the coin was struck from a collapsed obverse die. This occurs where the die is improperly hardened and tempered. Part of the die is weaker than the rest and partially collapses (sinks) in relation to the rest of the die. This is very unusual for a modern die (2015). Does the metal just inside LIBERTY slope down or up toward FDR? Not sure about value - it is a collectible error - but don't know if the cost of authentication is worth the expense.

Might be a slightly tapered end-of-strip planchet, but not worth the cost of authentication. Still, and interesting conversation coin.

Your jeweler does not have his XRF in correct calibration. As noted the coin should be 90% gold and 10% copper. Although platinum and silver are common in California gold, refining in use by the 1870s (at the latest) should have removed all of those. If it was once in jewelry, that would explain the odd surfaces. You could consign it to Heritage Auctions and see what they say about authenticity and value.

Use technology where it does a better job than humans - and vice versa.

If the condition of any coin is influenced by the perceived market value of the coin, then there is a systemic bias and NO grade is trustworthy. "Grades" must be determined empirically and no appearance opinion should be tolerated. Those things can be mentioned as observations.

Excellent work, Ross. And a very useful review and comments GoldFinger1969.