VAMWorld 2.0

The ZEISS Visioner 1 uses image stacking as mentioned earlier, except they automate the process. It can produce nice images, but will give you no information about design relief.

You can also use a visual microscope with calibrated micrometer focus capability. With correct use, and some practice this can give you very good estimates of relief differences between points on a coin. The operation is simple: At high magnification accurate focus is critical. The difference betwee...

Thanks! Will keep trying.

RE: The sample page. Notice that for 1896 were were 4 obverse and 2 reverse proof dies used. How does that compare with accepted varieties? There were also 48 obv & rev dies from the Philadelphia Mint. Can those match known varieties?

Keilg1 - it's also about communicating ideas to increase engagement and improve what is already present. VAMpires can easily use this forum to offer suggestion and then discuss their merits, constraints and implementation. Everyone was once a beginner -- a trite but true statement -- what attracted ...

In checking through Record Group 104 Entry 6 at the archives it appears that these volumes are good sources for die information. This includes quantities and control numbers of dies sent and dates sent, dies used, dies destroyed and proof coin dies. There is nothing about pieces struck from each pai...

My comment was more generic than specific. As an outsider to VAMs, I see so much knowledge, information, skills and possibility among experienced members. Yet, together almost nothing is done to understand and respond to potential new enthusiasts....or to capture and stimulate those who venture to t...

Rather than pointing fingers of blame at one another, try working together to simplify the "VAM experience" and improving response to potential new members? Use your collective knowledge to prepare and market (not 'sell') materials and options that will interest new collectors, and respond to their ...

You need to use a 3D optical profilometer, not a regular camera.

Nice ones start at about $50,000 and go up from there.

Keyence 3D profilometer

There is no such thing as a "Zerbe 1921 proof." All the ones given that "title" are proof-like, made on a normal toggle press. I have not had the opportunity to carefully examine a "Chapman proof," although I saw one in an NGC display a few years ago. These coins were described as "not proof, but ev...

Several TPGs have a tendency to "coinfuse" or ignore facts when it comes to satin and sandblast proofs. Several ordinary strikes have been certifies as "proof" because they were sandblasted -- even though they lack required detail and/or mechanical indicators. The coin in question is nice but the re...

RE: "It's frustrating to watch investments go to crap because of some incompetent goings on at the mint..." Your frustration is reasonable and well understood. It's disappointing to open the bank box and find spots on gold and silver pieces that we thought were well protected. I have no empirical d...

RE: "It's sad that Mercantii and the boys did not take this lesson from George Morgan, but I guess they are too busy writing books and selling signatures for some TPG labels to care about stuff like that." Planchet preparation was done by the Coining Dept, not Engraving. So those referred to were no...

Thanks JB. It's strange that they were perfect until I changed them to their present holders. Scientific research into this was done more than 10 years ago and published. Alloy mixing has no bearing on spots. Surface spots are nearly always the result of airborne contamination. Each time a planchet...

Leave stuff in the ORIGINAL capsules (if any). Every exposure to air greatly increases the opportunity for spotting of all types. How to get rid of this has been mentioned many times. Check older posts.

Collars were very durable - far more than dies and many other parts. But when they cracked or broke, they immediately fell apart. Therefore, the box of junk you saw. This stuff was usually sold to steel scrap dealers although counterfeiters might have bought them to copy authentic reeding.

vampicker wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 13, 2023 10:02 pm

Missed my point but whatever, I'm out.

Seemed quite clear to me.... Did not intend to step on any toes.

"There's nothing about reeding." This is a pervasive loss of information, only exacerbated by TPG holders. There are several mysteries in reeded edge coins, and suspected varieties in lettered edge gold, but we don't have access to enough data to ask the right questions. There is also the anti-coun...

That might be the incident I was thinking of... then there was W. Barber send out DE dies without dates in 1876.

RE: "Yeah, whatever it is, it's definitely funky, interesting and mysterious. I don't recall seeing anything like that anywhere else aside from the similarity to the acid treated reverses. Maybe one day @RogerB will surface some sort of correspondence regarding it." Additional San Francisco Mint doc...

Albannach wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 13, 2023 7:24 pm

Proof Morgan’s were struck on a screw press in the medal room.

A hydraulic medal press was used after 1893. (The screw press specifications will be in M2M-2 -- once I finish editing and get it printed.)