Update- Looks great framed! Really cool pickup at the ANA courtesy of Fred Weinberg

cmerlo1

I found myself at Fred's table last week marvelling at the errors he had. Also in his case was this strip of webbing from steel cent production in 1943. Along with webbing was the envelope and letter that accompanied it from numismatist Gary Young from Oakland, who had purchased some of the scrap webbing and sold it to collectors. The webbing is stamped with the number 236, and the envelope and letter are as well. I remember posts here about this, and since then I've wanted a piece of the scrap webbing. The price was right, so I bought it, and it will be getting framed with the letter and envelope soon (I'll post a photo when it's done). Thank you, Fred, it was great doing business with you!

remumc

Wow, that's way cool!

Steven59

Nice piece of Lincoln cent history.

Lakesammman

Nice pickup - and update on the history of recycling!

NumisOxide

Very cool steel cent webbing!

JBK

Great item.

I was particularly interested in a couple things in the letter.

First, the letter days that when production of steel cents ended the scrap and blank planchets were dumped into the Pacific ocean since they supposedly had no scrap value. I find this odd since during the ear there were scrap drives if all kinds, including metals.

Second, the letter describes the SF Assay Office refining gold to licensed jewelry manufacturers. They were one if the few entities that could own gold bullion between 1933 and the mid 1970s.

oih82w8

@JBK said:
Great item.

I was particularly interested in a couple things in the letter.

First, the letter days that when production of steel cents ended the scrap and blank planchets were dumped into the Pacific ocean since they supposedly had no scrap value. I find this odd since during the ear there were scrap drives if all kinds, including metals.

Second, the letter describes the SF Assay Office refining gold to licensed jewelry manufacturers. They were one if the few entities that could own gold bullion between 1933 and the mid 1970s.

How long was the Statute of Limitations.on "dumping into the ocean? Does anyone know of remnants still in the ocean, or has someone salvaged some of it?

Cool piece of history none the less! I remember someone who had a rather lengthy strip of Zinc Plated Steel, but this one is certainly more manageable and documentation to attest to it!

ricko

Nice piece of numismatic history. Surprised about the scrap operation... seems the steel would have been reclaimed for the war effort or manufacturing operations of some sort. Cheers, RickO

sellitstore

Probably no Statute of Limitation for ocean dumping at the time and probably not for the U.S. Govt.

Zinc is very reactive, probably little or none left at ocean bottom today. Even if still there, insufficient value to justify salvage.

If you want a treasure hunt, better chance of recovering a Stella from a California landfill.

JBK

@oih82w8 said:

@JBK said:
Great item.

I was particularly interested in a couple things in the letter.

First, the letter days that when production of steel cents ended the scrap and blank planchets were dumped into the Pacific ocean since they supposedly had no scrap value. I find this odd since during the ear there were scrap drives if all kinds, including metals.

Second, the letter describes the SF Assay Office refining gold to licensed jewelry manufacturers. They were one if the few entities that could own gold bullion between 1933 and the mid 1970s.

How long was the Statute of Limitations.on "dumping into the ocean? Does anyone know of remnants still in the ocean, or has someone salvaged some of it?

Cool piece of history none the less! I remember someone who had a rather lengthy strip of Zinc Plated Steel, but this one is certainly more manageable and documentation to attest to it!

Steel in salt water....I imagine its just a pile of rust by now, unless coral decided to use it as a framework.

I was wondering if steel cents got the zinc plating after striking or if the strip was plated, meaning exposed edges. I guess the zinc was used on the strip?

I always thought it was ironic that during WWII zinc was used to protect the steel cent, but now the copper plating serves to protect the unstable zinc core.

I guess times were simpler back then.

FredWeinberg

Sellitstore - I resemble that last sentence !

shortnock

Fine acquisition. Will frame up nicely for your Merlo Cave.

air4mdc

What a great read....and a great find from Fred. Thank you for sharing. I had the fond pleasure of wishing Fred well in retirement, in person last week. I’m hoping to secure one of his pieces in the upcoming Heritage auctions. I have been a big fan of error coins since a child searching his paper route money.
Where did the years go?

cmerlo1

I just finished framing it- it turned out great!

bolivarshagnasty

That is a great display!

happycollecting

Nice display.

Flatwoods

Very cool piece!
I need to frame a couple things.

koynekwest

Very nice!

gumby1234

Probably cost more to frame it than to buy it. Looks nice.
Ok i keep hearing about how @FredWeinberg threw away a $4 gold Stella. Does anybody want to share the whole story on that?

cmerlo1

@gumby1234 said:
Probably cost more to frame it than to buy it. Looks nice.
Ok i keep hearing about how @FredWeinberg threw away a $4 gold Stella. Does anybody want to share the whole story on that?

I do my own framing. A good mat cutter costs about as much as one custom framing job, and mine has paid for itself many, many times over. The only issue is that I'm running out of wall space.

I buy my frames at Goodwill. They usually have some terrible artwork in them, but they're top quality and what's in them is easily removed. Mat board can be had at Hobby Lobby. Total cost for this display was under $20.

Tekkie1

That's a hell of a historical display! Congrats!

thebeav

That's a beautiful job.
What a great educational tool for the non-numismatist !
You're sure to have years of discussion about it and surrounding history.

gumby1234

Well frames and the matting is usually expensive.

Steven59

You did a fantastic job. Looks like it should be hanging in a museum!

Kliao

Really neat piece and fantastic display. Congrats!

CoinJunkie

@gumby1234 said:
Probably cost more to frame it than to buy it. Looks nice.
Ok i keep hearing about how @FredWeinberg threw away a $4 gold Stella. Does anybody want to share the whole story on that?

I think the coin was in a box or envelope that inadvertently got thrown away. I'm sure Mr. Weinberg loves being reminded of it every time it gets reposted here, although I think he said he's at peace with it now.

gumby1234

@Coinjunkie Thanks, I was wondering because in the last month or so I had heard mention of it at least 5 times.