Found this shiny little guy out in the wild today.

GrymmWRX · 2012-05-31T06:29:40.508339+00:00

Still a great find!

Rtpmarine · 2012-05-31T06:28:01.396183+00:00

You make a pretty good point.

I think that making or ordering a custom metal punch/stamp and getting some blank silver disks, or some relatively blank ones that just have the weight and fineness pre-stamped into them, and then stamping them with a reddit silverbugs punch might be a practical option, too.

If somebody had access to a little CNC milling machine we might be able to save the cost of having the punch made commercially. It might be possible to photo etch a design onto the face of a steel punch and then harden it, I don't know.

I had an old rack-and-pinion arbor press around here somewhere, or I did two or three moves ago, but you could also just stamp them using a good hammer and a steady hand. I think I've read somewhere of people adapting a hydraulic jack to stamp metal too.

Rtpmarine · 2012-05-31T06:00:46.237343+00:00

Of course, you could always beef the bar up to 5 or 10 oz and not worry about it :D

NOW you're talking.

GrymmWRX · 2012-05-31T05:57:48.694407+00:00

Your photo's a little blurry, but that coin looks like it's in REALLY good shape.

Great find!

Rtpmarine · 2012-05-31T05:47:44.548709+00:00

That level of detail might require lost wax casting though, if garnet casting sand doesn't work.

Rtpmarine · 2012-05-31T05:40:55.918247+00:00

So you're talking about a master for sand casting then?

I used to use a product called garnet sand for casting silver. I bought it from a guy who mined it himself, but this was years and years ago and I don't know if he's still in business. It was superior to regular casting sand for fine detail and for the way it handled heat. I wish my hands were still up to doing that kind of stuff.

Huh... I just looked online and apparently the family business is still going. I bought my assortment of garnet blocks and sand from him at a rock show over 25 years ago and now his son is helping him. It looks like the sand product is now called jeweler's cast.

Rtpmarine · 2012-05-31T05:14:16.619479+00:00

It should be less than 10 bucks shipped.

This sounds interesting and those are nice designs, but I can't tell from your screen shots on imgur - what material would these molds be made of?

rockingtiger92 · 2012-05-31T05:05:46.282234+00:00

That's good info, thanks for linking it.

Talking about highest circulated designations, I was just now looking at an impaired proof, a '73-S Kennedy half that I had pulled from a coin roll. It's still in quite good shape, but obviously no longer PR 60 or higher.

sheothgora · 2012-05-31T04:44:17.598986+00:00

Everybody discovers film noir in his or her own way. I've been wanting to play LA Noir since it first came out, but haven't picked it up yet. I'm way behind on gaming.

It's good having you here. Don't be discouraged if this reddit moves kind of slowly at times. I think everyone is off watching film noir and reading hard-boiled crime fiction.

NottaGrammerNasi · 2012-05-31T04:36:13.371275+00:00

Yeah... that's the problem. Half dollars have been special-order items from the mint for about ten years. They are now designated NIFC, or Not Intended For Circulation - though they are still legal tender. They do turn up at banks sometimes, but not all banks want to screw with half dollars because a lot of people don't want them.

For the banks that do bother carrying half dollars, they sometimes get in NIFC and even proof halves. People order rolls of new halves from the mint to search them for the highest grade specimens, send those in to be graded and slabbed, and dump the rest at the bank.

I'm not sure why people would break up proof sets and spend them, unless it was kids or addicts that had stolen them, but I've gotten one or two obvious proof strikes with an "S" mint mark in coin rolls from the bank. Apparently that's not uncommon. Once they've been spent and circulated they become "impaired proofs."

puppit · 2012-05-31T03:37:39.657276+00:00

Smart thinking, and they're still really cool.

puppit · 2012-05-31T02:54:22.567728+00:00

I was going to say that's not bad, but I guess condition has something to do with that.

RedditSilverbugs · 2012-05-31T02:52:28.624617+00:00

After it hits $25? :D

maxofreddit · 2012-05-31T02:12:14.924893+00:00

No personal experience, but when I was in Taiwan many years ago a few of my friends got fairly regular work modeling and doing minor roles in films. I never asked them how they got the jobs, though there must be agencies there too.

puppit · 2012-05-31T01:41:58.862476+00:00

Are you sticking to US currency for now? I'm not currently a collector of paper money, but I'll stumble across a relevant web site once in awhile and look at the pictures and do some reading. You could also try asking on /r/PaperMoney, but it's a fairly new and small reddit. There's also /r/Banknotes.

Good luck!

SatOnMyNutsAgain · 2012-05-31T00:29:33.405837+00:00

For science!

SatOnMyNutsAgain · 2012-05-31T00:23:19.353228+00:00

I bought one of those fake Eagles from China.

On purpose to check it out, or because it was sold as genuine? If the latter, my condolences.

Edited to add:

OK... I see in the video now that you got it for cheap to spot the phony bits.

ThisisaThrowAway88 · 2012-05-31T00:19:07.076999+00:00

It was a journal, started I think in 1956, for the students and fans of the works of Robert E. Howard, who was a writer friend of HPL and a member of his inner circle. He's the guy who created Conan the Barbarian, King Kull, Solomon Kane, and similar characters, and sometimes made use of Mythos elements.

marksk88 · 2012-05-31T00:10:12.504977+00:00

That's exactly what I've been doing. I'm just chipping away at it slowly and snapping up bargains when I can find them.

I actually had a small Canadian collection going when I was around 10, including a few Voyageur dollars, and they got stolen by employees of a moving company. They got my US silver too, from back when you could still find a little in circulation.

Live and learn...

ThisisaThrowAway88 · 2012-05-30T23:59:17.478868+00:00

Only what Google tells me. And that was actually pretty informative. It sounds a little like "Amra" for students of HPL.

canneddan · 2012-05-30T23:56:06.755062+00:00

I really envy you. Enjoy it while you can.

marksk88 · 2012-05-30T23:54:37.280756+00:00

I'd really like to collect all of the large cents and every year of the Voyageur dollars, but I don't have the coin budget for that much silver right now.

canneddan · 2012-05-30T23:49:02.411035+00:00

That's a really cool fossil.

My dad grew up in Iowa and I got to see a few arrowheads that he and his brothers found there, as well as sections from some crinoids. I bought an ambitious Lake Superior agate at a rock show there once that had hitched a ride on a glacier all of the way down to Iowa.

canneddan · 2012-05-30T23:45:11.542996+00:00

Man, I thought you were back!

marksk88 · 2012-05-30T23:38:37.935933+00:00

Yeah... I remember reading somewhere about a glitch in the sequence, but didn't really understand it. Thanks for the info.

I'm definitely going to be looking for more bargain large cents now. I noticed that some of the coins produced for use in India utilize pretty much the same pattern as Canadian large cents. I've been trying to find some of those cheap, too.

born_lever_puller

TROPHY CASE

born_lever_puller

TROPHY CASE

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