| 2003
| ScrapBook
Subjects
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Page
Index
Links
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Link:
Personalized Piedforts Provide Perfect Provenance
Link:
Unusual Susan B. Anthony Dollar
Link:
Ya Ain't Gonna Believe This'n!
Link:
[ LG1 And LG2...Too COOL! ]
Link:
That's All I Know!
Link:
Bill Fivaz's Giant "Nickel" Carvings
Another Steve Adams Creation
Link:
Early Spring In The Ozarks
Link:
THE Unique BreakPoint Death Dollar
Link:
Twenty Years Of Magic
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Enlargement scans available on WWW and ScrapBook CD-ROM.
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| 4/12
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Personalized Piedforts Provide Perfect Provenance
I always love adding enhanced specimens to my numismatic collection. Normally
these are such things as autographs on coinflip inserts, hand written notes
about specimens by the coiner or designer, business cards, photographs of
involved people... it goes on and on but you get the idea. Here we have
two Con$ept specimens bearing Ron Landis' personal hallmark. Acquiring
numismatic specimen that have been counterstamped with the designer's hallmark
is a special treat. That is one reason I like carvings done by our currently
active nickel carvers... they are signed! I consider these sort of personalized
specimens to have gone through a definite "value added" process.
EMail:Verne R. Walrafen
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| 4/12
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Unusual Susan B. Anthony Dollar
I purchased this unusual 1979-P Susan B. Anthony dollar, overstruck with Ron's 2000
pewter show token obverse die, from Adam Kelley off eBay. This piece should never have
been created because striking a struck coin with a die in TheGuy's Mobil MiniMint is
quite likely to damage the dies and/or the MiniMint itself. This specimen apparently
had a pewter planchet between its reverse and the reverse/anvil die because there is
a very soft irregular indentation on this specimen's reverse where the metal in the
dollar planchet moved up into the Liberty Head in the obverse/hammer die.
EMail:Verne R. Walrafen
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| 4/11
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Ya Ain't Gonna Believe This'n!
As all Landis fans know... something like five or six years ago Ron accidently
created "14 star" proof 1796 dollar dies and struck 61 coins before the error
was discovered. He sent out a letter offering to take the error specimens back
for credit on other GMM products. A few weeks ago a customer asked him if he
would still honor his "trade-in" offer. At first Ron hesitated... thinking that
the guarantee should be considered expired this late in the game ...but then it
occurred to him that someone might like to have a specimen of this rare issue.
Yup ...you guessed it! The ol' FatMan snapped up this once in a lifetime opportunity.
It was an extra bonus when I found out that it was the third specimen struck
from the 14 star proof 1796 dollar dies. Way cool! Sometimes good things
happen to good people despite this circumstance being the converse of conventional
wisdom.
EMail:Verne R. Walrafen
Dear Gallery Mint Patron,
We recently sent you the 1796 Dollar Proof reproduction(s).
We appreciate your patience in waiting for this, the second
piece of your pre-paid 1796 proof set.
The original dollars of 1796 had 15 stars on all varieties.
After months of engraving and set backs and our endless
efforts for accuracy, I still goofed up and punched only 14
stars into the first proof die. Only 61 pieces of this
variety were struck and sent before we were made aware of
the error. This die has now been canceled and the 14 star
version can no longer be purchased. A new die has been made
and we are back in production.
Our records indicate that you were sent one of these rare
varieties. If you wish to return the piece(s) to be replaced
with the more accurate 15 star variety please feel free to
do so. You will be given a $3.00 credit towards your next
purchase to cover your cost of returning the error via
insured mail.
You will be receiving the December 1996 issue of the Gallery
Mint Report soon. More details covered in this newsletter
will better explain all the setbacks that caused the delays
in shipping this piece to you. Please accept our apologies
again for any inconvenience this may have caused you. Our
best wishes for the holiday season!
Sincerely, Ron Landis, Chief Engraver
{ Source: Clifford Bolling's Library }
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LG1 And LG2...Too COOL!
These are Lee Griffiths' FIRST and SECOND nickel carving creations.
Lee is an experienced engraver and engraving teacher so he didn't have to start
from scratch. He already had the engraving skills obviously. Now then... how do
I heap adequate superlatives on Lee's work? Since he has just exploded on the
scene here in 2003 let's use explosive metaphors... If we say LG1 is like a hand
grenade, then LG2 is clearly an order of magnitude better... an artillary shell
perhaps. I can see that we are in trouble here already because that means LG3
will have to be a bunker-buster bomb, LG4 an atomic bomb, LG5 a hydrogen bomb,
LG6 the sun going nova and LG7 the "Big Bang!" Whoops... the "Big Bang" has to
do with creation and not destruction. Of course we started out talking about
Lee's creations but I think I've mixed my metaphors somehow. This didn't work
out very well! Only seven carvings before the end of the cosmos? Not a
good plan Verne! All this reminds me of something... perhaps it is the seven
days that it took to create everything in the first place. All this foolishness
makes my head hurt... I'm going to go soak it and see if I get to feeling any
better. The prognosis isn't good I can tell you right off.
EMail:Verne R. Walrafen
"Lee Griffiths lives on a farm in Idaho surrounded by a wide variety of animal
and plant life. Encouraged by his father years ago, Lee developed his art skills
as a boy and progressed through formal education under renowned wildlife artist,
Leon Parson. Lee¹s art is a passion as simple as pen and ink, as traditional as
portraits, and as challenging as delicate scene engraving on firearms. When Lee
teaches art to others, he especially enjoys helping people progress at their own
pace. This provides a learning opportunity for both naturally artistic students
and those who may be apprehensive about the artwork aspect of metal engraving.
Lee began engraving with the hammer and chisel method and switched to GraverMax
which he credits with rapidly accelerating his progress. He has earned the title
of Professional Engraver from the Firearms Engravers Guild of America."
Link:GLENDO Corporation - GRS
Instructors
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| 4/10
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That's All I Know!
eBay item 3011752030 (Ends Mar-15-03 17:50:58PST) -
Half Eagle Struck On Half Cent From Estate.
I really don't have a clue what this is. The insert says it is a 1795 Half Eagle Struck On 1793 Lettered Edge Half Cent Planchet. Also, the word "COPY" is impressed on the reverse. That's all I know. Perhaps you know more. If so, what's it worth? blueridge1...Wednesday, Mar-05-03 17:50:58PST
This specimen is a bit of a compound mystery. It appears to have had some sort of surface
treatment... toning... whatever. I'm not a big fan of artifically toning numismatic
specimens. Generally the closer one can keep a specimen to its "as struck" condition the
better and more valuable I think a piece is. Having said that, this piece is quite
attractive and appealing. I wonder how and why it was toned as well as who did it?
Additionally, from the pictures the Seller took, it looks to my eyes that the "I"
in LIBERTY is weak almost to the point of being missing. I have never seen this
characteristic on any specimen from Gallery Mint's 1795 gold Half Eagle dies.
Is it possible that this isn't a strike from GMM's dies?
Without seeing it in person I can't say for certain... sure would like to see the half
cent planchet edge detail as that would most likely cinch it for me. Right now "That's
All I Know!" and it is very little more than the Seller admitted to.
The new owner of this specimen sent me a new scan, as shown below, and told me
that the edge lettering says; "ONE HUNDRED FOR A DOLLAR"... so this would be a
cent planchet and not a half cent planchet obviously. Reckon we need the weight
and diameter of this piece to reduce the fog a bit here. Just for your information
I am also posting here a scan of a Gallery Mint Museum 1795 Uncirculated dies Half
Eagle strike on the normal gold planchet. In this case the enlargement scan is
also available to you online.
Additional research... browsing through my RedBook I find; 1) 1793
HalfCent Copper
6.72g
22mm, 2) 1795 HalfEagle Gold
8.75g
25mm and 3) 1793 Cent Copper
13.48g
26-28mm.
So... I can see why the original owner said this specimen was struck on a half
cent planchet since it didn't strike out all the way to the dentils on the dies.
It is always possible that the wrong edge dies were used in the Castaing Machine!
There would be nothing to prevent running a HalfCent planchet through Cent edge
dies. We REALLY need to find out the weight of this specimen!
All right... we just heard from the new owner of this mysterious specimen and he
had the following to tell us;
This piece weighs between 6 and 7 grams and is around 23mm.
Casey K...Friday, April 11, 2003 8:07PM
To me it becomes quite obvious that the original owner was correct in describing
this specimen as being struck on a HalfCent planchet.
So... I asked for verification that the edge didn't actually say; "TWO HUNDRED
FOR A DOLLAR" because I expected that, on such a small diameter planchet, the
impression from the Cent edge dies might have lapped over itself thus obscuring
the ONE. I got the following response;
Is this a TWO????????? Casey K...Friday, April 11, 2003 9:56PM
and after I quit laughing and rolling around on the floor I thanked him for helping
us confirm that this specimen REALLY is a strange bird... which makes it
REALLY interesting.
It was created with 1795 gold HalfEagle dies struck on a copper HalfCent planchet
that had been run through 1793 Cent edge dies.
A copper HalfEagle/Cent/HalfCent as it were.
EMail:Verne R. Walrafen
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Bill Fivaz's Giant "Nickel" Carvings
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Another Steve Adams Creation
It is my understanding that Bill Fivaz has commissioned many of our current active
nickel carvers to create wonderful carvings from two ounce silver rounds he provided.
So far I only have a scan of Steve Adam's carving but if I can get scans from the
other carvers I'll be sure and post them for all y'all.
Note the incuse hobo profile Steve did on this carving's reverse in the upper left
area of the flag. The reverse works on so many levels... flag, dove and hobo all
woven together to into peace and freedom... clearly Steve was feeling
particularly patriotic while he was carving Bill's Giant Nickel.
EMail:Verne R. Walrafen
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| 4/9
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Click for
Pump House or
Oak Tree enlargement on CD-ROM
The property that the
new Museum will be built on.
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Early Spring In The Ozarks
In late March 2003 Ron Landis gave me a tour of the highway front property TheGuys
purchased south of Eureka Springs. They are working toward building a world class
numismatic mint museum at this location. Right smack dab in the middle of a party
being held on this property last year, LobsterFest 2002... while TheGuys were playing
music ...a record breaking wind storm struck. Those tall oaks in the Ozarks are shallow
rooted and tip over easily. The wind was so strong it not only tipped oaks but snapped
some off many feet up in the air. The property is still... almost a year later ...covered
with fallen oaks.
Pump House (upper left):
First Ron showed me the only building on the property thus far. We are looking
north and are west of the building site for the main mint building. The pump
house is a little worse for the wear but it survived two fallen oaks that
bracketed it while just grazing the left front corner and causing only slight
damage to the trim.
Focal Point Oak (upper right):
This HUGE oak was to be the centerpiece of the new mint's front yard. We are
looking north at the building site for the main mint building. Ron thought this
oak had escaped damage in the wind storm but after a while it unexpectedly
dropped the tremendous limb you see here on the ground. Now what was an asset
has become a liability and must be removed.
Downed Oak Trees (lower left):
This is what the bottom of an oak tree looks like. We are looking south from the
building site for the main mint building. I didn't measure the height of these
obstacles to progress but they must be five to six feet in diameter and full of
small rocks. Definitely something that one can't cut up. Reckon they will have
to be bulldozed out of the way somehow. However this problem is addressed you
can bet it will be expensive.
Ron Landis (lower right):
Here we have Ron Landis himself standing looking at me and frowning a bit. Again
we are looking south from the building site for the main mint building. Just out
of frame are the downed oak trees shown in the previous photo. Maybe he is just
thinking about how to get rid of all those downed oaks or perhaps the sun was just
too bright that day.
You ought to know by now that I never throw anything away. If you are viewing this
from our ScrapBook CD-ROM here is the
Link:expanded
photo from which I clipped Ron's head shot.
EMail:Verne R. Walrafen
Click for
Downed Oaks or
Ron Landis enlargement on CD-ROM
"First we have a LOT of
downed oak trees to clean up!"
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| 4/8
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Click for
Obverse or
Reverse enlargement on CD-ROM
1796
"Death" Dollar
With Two BreakPoint CUDs and One Full CUD
25.4mm - 2.3mm thick - Dollar edge -
Ex. Bill Fivaz Collection
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THE Unique BreakPoint Death Dollar
This fantastic specimen is from THE strike that broke the final two chunks off
this obverse dollar die. It was originally sold to Bill Fivaz who has just now,
most generously, donated it to TheGuys for their museum collection. This is the
strike that fits between the fourth and fifth specimens that I showed you in:
Link:Death Of A Die ... AKA "Death Dollars".
Here is the graphic from that SBsubject that shows the before and
after die states for this BreakPoint CUDs specimen.
Obverses
Click for
Fourth
Left
partial cud
clashed
die state
or
Fifth
Right
full cud
DOUBLE
clashed
die state
enlargement
on
CD-ROM
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Reverses
Click for
Fourth
Left
partial cud
clashed
die state
or
Fifth
Right
full cud
DOUBLE
clashed
die state
enlargement
on
CD-ROM
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In case you are wondering what the terminology BreakPoint CUD
means... Ron Landis uses it to describe what most folks call a
Retained CUD. I agree with Ron that... at least in his
environment ...the pieces of the die that break off simply fall away
and are not retained. Only the BreakPoint strike shows any die detail
impression on the top surface of the CUD. All subsequent strikes show
full CUDs which normally have an unblemished surface.
The strikes from the end of this die's life show exceptional clashing...
at least two separate strong die clashes. Take a peek at the clear "S"
from STATES behind the "6" of 1796 (shown here for you at the left.) Now
then... we finally have the answer to the question previously posed about
the eight (8) Single Clash Dies & Massive Obverse Cud strikes
reported by Czapla. This BreakPoint strike clearly shows the double
star clash on the reverse that is definitive for all double clashed die
strikes. So there simply can't be any single clash specimens with the
massive FINAL cud.
As best as I can remember we have only visited about specimens struck
from these failing dies in two previous SBsubjects:
Link:The End Of A Die's Life and
Link:Death Of A Die ... AKA "Death Dollars".
EMail:Verne R. Walrafen
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| 4/7
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Click for
Obverse or
Reverse enlargement on CD-ROM
COPPER
Texas Renaissance Festival - MCMXCIV (1994)
39.0mm - 4.8mm thick - plain edge
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Twenty Years Of Magic
Ron Landis told me this medal was struck on his "King's Coin Hammer" after he left
Texas. The dies were done by someone other than Ron so his only connection to this
piece is that he built the drop hammer used to strike it.
In addition to being struck off center, this specimen was multistruck to the point
of obscuring much of the fine detail that should be apparent. There is a word on the
right (when looking at the medal) chair arm that I extrapolate to read; "MERLIN".
The date, MCMXCIV (1994), is smushed around among the dragon scales below
Merlin's chair. Both the obverse and reverse have heavy clash marks in the field. Clearly
the art of striking medals takes more than just good equipment... experience and extreme
attention to detail is critical in the production of a quality product.
I want to learn if any other medals were struck by the King's Coin
Hammer in 1993 or later... can anybody provide more information on the TRF?
The "Texas Renaissance Festival" started operation in 1974 in Plantersville, Texas, which
is located approximately 50 miles northwest of Houston. Thus the "Twenty Years Of Magic"
anniversary celebrated by this medal struck in 1994.
EMail:Verne R. Walrafen
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