My coworker brought in a Norse for me to check out!
kiyote
Posts: 5,588 ✭✭✭✭✭
I’ve actually never seen one in person! They really are beautiful coins and this one was pretty stunning.
I only had time to snap one quick photo!
"I'll split the atom! I am the fifth dimension! I am the eighth wonder of the world!" -Gef the talking mongoose.
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Now I want one!
They are pretty dang cool.
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
That looks nice.
I don’t know why but these are fairly unpopular. There’s a thick and thin variety and a pretty dramatic and not-too-rare double die.
That's a big time doubled die.
A few years back I figured out, mathematically, that the blanks for the thin ones were cut out of half dollar strip and the thick ones from dollar strip. Never seen any documents to confirm this, but the math works.
TD
Dang, that is a sweet looking example!
I have several of each type. I should sell a few but I can't bear to part with them.
Proof Buffalo Registry Set
Capped Bust Quarters Registry Set
Proof Walking Liberty Halves Registry Set
I found the True View for it..
Beautiful!
I bought one of those in the original packaging from Stacks over 10 years ago. The fields were amazingly watery. It's one of only 2 coins I regret selling.
Sent it in to PCGS and got one of the first 66s they gave out, plus CAC. The 66 pop was well under 10 IIRC. Unfortunately, they have since made dozens of 66s, and there's even a 67 (tough to do with lots of prime focal areas on this medal, and sharp corners on its neighbors).
The grading floodgates on this medal opened just like for the rest of the commem series in higher grades, and is a big reason values have gone nowhere.
I love these medals, and think no commem set is complete without them. The one in the OP is all there.
The Norse is a great commemorative... and one I do not have... I shall have to rectify that situation...
Darn, another one to add to the list.... Time to head over to ebay 
Cheers, RickO
I've had quite a few of these. I never kept one for very long however.
Could just never decide where it fits in. I suppose if the grey sheet would have listed them with the silver commems it would have solved the indecision......Or is it just a so-called half dollar ?
That coin makes me want to pillage a village!
Great transactions with oih82w8, JasonGaming, Moose1913.
Dr. Seuss has run amok!
I have been thinking about this ever since I read it. @CaptHenway , even though you say you haven't seen any documentation to confirm it, would you consider it fact? IMHO, I think it would be too much of a coincidence for it to not be a fact.
it is hard for me to understand the confusion about what these are and where they belong. they are collected as a Commemorative but they are Medals. along with the good Captains thinking about the origin of the planchets I have found that the Thin examples tend to be found toned much more frequently than the Thick variety. this is strange since so many more Thick ones were issued.
in that regard the OP's example is even nicer.
Let’s just say that I believe it to be true.
Very clever ...
See http://www.doubledimes.com for a free online reference for US twenty-cent pieces
Back in the 1980s one of the local vest-pocket dealers and show promoters would always be pushing these. Super- ultra- spectacular rarity he would say. Yet he always had a vast selection of these to sell for $200 and up (about $450-$500 in today's dollars).
See http://www.doubledimes.com for a free online reference for US twenty-cent pieces
Well, let's think about the origin of the planchet strip. In 1925 Philadelphia was still using Pittman Act repayment silver for dollars. Was that all newly-mined silver or what? I need to dig into a Mint Report or two.
The only half dollars struck were Lexington-Concords and Stone Mountains. Where did that silver come from? Recycled old coins with interesting trace elements and/or surface oxidation that just got melted into the ingots, or what?
logically, the reclaimed 90% coins would be melted, refined and then alloyed to a certain purity to meet the specifics of the Bill/Legislation that mandates our coinage.
I have seen films of the Mint making bronze ingot melts using pure copper, pure zinc, pure tin in correct proportions plus large scoops of old cents melted down as is. I have no reason to doubt that the silver was melted in the same manner, some new silver, some new copper and some old silver coins melted as is. There was no need to reduce it to pure silver and start all over.
I no longer have the math work for calculating the expected weights of thick and thin Norse medals compared to a normal half dollar and a normal standard dollar. If anybody can give me PRECISE measurements of a raw Norse (gross height, gross width, the length of one side segment, the length of one top or bottom segment and the length of one of the angled segments) I can do it again.
The raw weight of an Unc. thick and a thin would also be helpful.
Edited to add: Get me the measurements and weight on a gold piece and lets see if it is made from double eagle stock or what.
I'm a big fan of these and some of them have really nice toning like @kiyote 's. Congrats for picking up these piece. I love it!
Collecting these requires some commitment from the prices I've seen on Heritage. The gold issues, die trials and off metals make for an interesting set.
I wish it was mine. I’d have to sell my kidneys and spleen for that piece!
The coin in the OP is a beautiful example.
Looking at DNAdave's specimen had me thinking I had diplopia, briefly.
pretty cool. usually coworkers bring out the bicentennials