RWB

If this quote is correct, the "local coin shop" might as well be selling flowers, dry cleaning, garden supplies, or singing lessons. The only one being rude to you was the coin shop owner. Stay away from that place. Members here will give you honest responses without any sales pitch.

To repeat: It's a damaged coin. worth 25-cents. stop watching silly U-tube coin videos.

If your local coin shop gave you the "brush off" without explaining the coin's appearance, maybe you should consider valuing his/her input at the coin's value -- 1- cent.

No. It's worth 25-cents if you can get someone at a local store to accept it. Now, if you send it to be certified and graded, it will be returned in a nice plastic holder that says "Damaged" and will cost you approximately $50. At that point the coin is still worth only 25-cents, so you will have wasted $49.75. Why not spend that money on some basic coin books, and stop looking at silly internet videos. [Or -- at least take the wife for a nice dinner.] I'll leave it to others to suggest informative, truthful coin books.

Documents show that Mint objections were based on difficulty of recovering usable alloy from the scissel after cutting blanks, and annealing problems. The Melter & Refiner and Assayer strongly favored only binary coin alloys, and the Chief Coiner wanted metal that did not require unusual treatment when rolling strips. Had Feuchtwanger accepted removal of zinc (thereby voiding his patent claim), we might have had CuNi cents beginning in 1839 or 40.

We see here, and on all other coin message boards, a lot of new people claiming to see all sorts of added mintmarks, or overdates or all sorts of things - none of which exist. Maybe this could increase collector knowledge a little?

Massachusetts Historical Society, JQAdams Diary, volume 33 12 September 1837. Photos by NGC. 12. IV:30. Tuesday. Feuchtwanger— Lewis Dr Heinecke— Samuel Dr Feuchtwanger, brought me a Letter of introduction from Col. Abert.— He has a project for contracting to coin cents from a composition of zinc, copper and nickel, called German silver— He has coined counters with his name, and one cent stamped upon them, of which he shewed [sic] me several— They are clean, and about the size of a ten cent piece— He makes table furniture and all Articles usually plated of the same composition, costing about one fourth as much, and looking nearly as well as silver— He had a memorial which he wished me to present, but I advised him to make some alterations in it— And I suggested to him the expediency, of having a coinage of 2 and 3. cent pieces of his composition, instead of throwing the copper coinage of cents out of circulation. [In the last sentence, Adams means that Feuchtwanger should propose his alloy for 2 or 3-cent coins and not for cents because that would keep the copper pieces in circulation. RWB]

...be assembled? This might make a very interesting and challenging exhibit about an increasingly common problem for newer collectors.

Spadone's book succeeded in getting a lot of kids involved, however. Those are now the same collectors who are dropping dead and whose collections - junk or treasure - now return to the hobby.

Woodin was in overall agreement with the FDR administration's economic policies -- many of which were larger version of small projects tried by the Hoover admin. The success of those policies, including tight restrictions on banking speculation, were successful. The book you are reading is an ideological tome and not real applied economics. This is much like the phony "supply-side" absurdity that has never worked for the overall benefit, but which keeps being pushed as ideology and not for results. However, reading the book is a good exercise in critical thinking -- separating distorted and meaningless from reality.

A little side interest --- Dr. R. M. Patterson Superintendent U.S. Mint July 26, 1846 Dear Sir, The bearer of this, John Bechtler, a resident of Spring Garden and a very steady, industrious, temperate and honest man, is desirous, should a vacancy occur, of getting employment in the Mint in a situation he would be competent to fill. Mr. Bechtler went away from the City, [southward] three years ago last May and for a part of the time he was about, he was employed at the establishment in Rutherford, North Carolina and understood the manner and modes of work connected with the refining and coining of the precious metals. His cousin, Augustus Bechtler, held a permanent situation at the same place until he died about two years ago. Perhaps he was known to you. I commend Mr. Bechtler to your favorable examination. Very truly yours, J. Payne

Yes, the Franklin designs were all intended for the 1/2-dime or possibly a 3-cent coin. Dir Ross admired Franklin which is why his portrait is on the half. John Sinnock died before doing any work on the half -- everything was completed by Roberts -- who should have gotten co-credit (or blame...) in my opinion.

OK....Well here's a different coin from the usual Eid Mar design. Hammered down for $800,000 at the Classical Numismatic Group’s annual Triton auction in New York City was a gold aureus of Brutus. According to the catalog it was struck in late summer-autumn 42 B.C.E. by the military mint traveling with Brutus and Cassius in western Asia Minor or northern Greece. P. Servilius Casca Longus was the moneyer. The cataloger called it finest portrait Brutus gold aureus. It shows a bare head of Brutus right, wearing short beard; BRVTVS behind, IMP before; all within laurel wreath / A combined army and naval trophy, consisting of a cuirass, a crested helmet on the top, a curved sword [or dagger] and two crossed spears on the left arm, and an oval shield with incurved sides on the right, set on a post made from a tree trunk; at base, two rostra (ships prows), two shields, and a rudder.

Please let me know what you think about it. It's all related to gold although the last two are more tangent than perpendicular connections.

Nice steps. That's what they should look like!

Post a coin with a dagger on it, or an image of Julius Caesar, Dictator of Rome.

Bullion is an expensive version of "musical chairs."

TPG's occasionally make mistakes such as using the wrong photo. Have you tried writing to them, mention the discrepancy, and ask for a correction? There might also be something visible in personal examination that is not shown in the photo.

There's a nice review in Coin World for this week.

No. There is no method for cleaning a coin that is suitable for ANY NOVICE to use. Don't do it. Baking soda will scratch a coin.

Sure. I'll even upgrade it from a thread to a string so it doesn't get lost in the mental cobwebs.

I looked for that for another collector about a year ago, but found nothing. the year 2007 is too recent for any mint documents to be in NARA, also. Sorry.

I signed several cases of books yesterday, and all orders as of then have shipped. There seems to me more than usual "Buzz" about this book.

Probably not, but there's no penalty for asking. There is a little material from the 1970s in NARA at College Park, but most of it consists of lists, and not the real details I suspect you are hoping for. If there's something specific, I can search my database for you.

Those coins that are entirely compliant proofs, had to have been struck in Philadelphia from mintmarked dies. Nothing secret or nefarious - simply "perfect" samples for a branch mint to compare their output to, or made for special use at the receiving mint. Other than my few examinations, I don't think any of the candidate coins have been objectively evaluated. Most likely fall into the same category as the bunches of "proof" bust halves and quarters. It's simply been too easy for some "expert" to declare it "looks like a proof" but without any empirical data.