Describe a numismatic tangent you're on and how you got there

[shirohniichan]

After researching the trade dollar and double dime, I became interested in the Comstock. Here's how I've gotten to where I am now.

 

Trade dollar -> double dime -> Carson City Mint -> Comstock -> Bank of California -> San Francisco -> Virginia and Truckee Railroad -> ghost towns -> eastern California silver boom -> Carson & Colorado Railroad-> mining and smelting

 

I don't know where this is going to end, but I've been enjoying learning on the way.

[shirohniichan]

Here's another weird tangent that yielded interesting results.

 

Cerro Gordo was a silver boom town in the Inyo Mountains that produced silver and lead. Galena ore from the mines went down to Swansea on the shore of Owens Lake. Large bars of silver and lead were cast and transported across the lake on a small steamer, and from there they were taken all the way to Los Angeles by mule team (as there was no railroad when the mines were in peak production). The bars were taken to the Selby Smelting and Lead Company in San Francisco to part the silver from the lead.

 

Here's an excerpt from the 1893 California "Report of the State Mineralogist":

 

"An important branch of the business of the Selby Works is the manufacture of the Standard machine-loaded cartridges (Chamberlain patent). At the cartridge factory, located adjacent to the smelting works, eight machines, working automatically, turn out an average of 12,000 cartridges a day to each machine" (p. 191).

 

Now if I can only find out if the cartridges were mostly the standard military .45-70 and .45 Colt or civilian sizes.

 

 

[World Colonial]

Sorry, none of mine are as remotely interesting as yours. Here are mine.

 

South Africa Unon and ZAR => Lived in South Africa from 1972 to 1974

 

Bolivia Republic decimals 1864-1909 => My father is from Bolivia and I lived there twice

 

Spanish colonial pillar coinage => Always liked the pillar dollar and then found out later there are other denominations and mint marks besides Mexico City.

 

Spanish colonial "Lion & Castle" quater real => First saw this design in a silver shop in LaPaz back in 1975. Found them later in Krause.

 

1790 Austrian Netherlands Insurrection issues => First saw the 3 florin in the Bowers and Merena Bebee catalog. Mistook this design for the "Lion & Castle". (Both are Hapsburg but not remotely similar. Later found them in Krause.

 

Spanish Cross silver => I lived in Spain briefly and then found them in Krause later.

[James_OldeTowne]

Mine's pretty mundane. I saw someone discuss a Ted Danson movie related to coins in another thread, and added it to my NetFlix queue. I think it's called something like "Getting Even With Dad".

[kryptonitecomics]

My numismatic tangent/mission for the past 5+ years has been to educate collectors and non collectors about Naturally toned coins.....in an effort to stop all of the bashing that goes on daily on all of the forums I am a member of...

 

If people could accept for just one second that we don't have to like the same things....and that knowledge is the key to the AT vs. NT debate and not personal likes and dislike..... Wow I know I would enjoy the hobby even more