cameo question

Cladiator

Can anyone tell me when cameo and deep cameo began to become common on proofs? When did it first appear but was still very uncommon?

Russ

<< <i>Can anyone tell me when cameo and deep cameo began to become common on proofs? >>



Cameo became sort of common in the early '60's. Deep cameo became common in the mid '70's.



<< <i>When did it first appear but was still very uncommon? >>



Back in the 19th century. Then from 1936 to 1942, the mint seems to have forgotten the art of cameo production. When proof sets resumed in 1950, they were a little better, (although not much), and have gotten progressively better since.

Russ, NCNE

mnmcoin

Basically what Russ said, one thing to add is the even early proof coinage was designed to have and manufactured to have cameo contrast. Coins such as proof Barbers and Seated coinage for instance do exhibit cameo contrast, but there is very little if any premium paid, since quite a few pieces on the whole exhbit cameo contrast. Remember cameo contrast is caused from freshly polished dies, just after acid bath, the cameo wears away as more and more coins are struck with those dies...so, since there were not many proof coins struck for the early Barber and Seated coinage, many exhibit the cameo contrast.

So when it first appeared and when it became uncommon are mutually exclusive occurances. As Russ put it, starting with the reproduction of proof coins in 1936, cameo was intended but very rarely produced for some reason. I would have loved to have been around back then to see what happened.

Also, most poeple into cameos do so on the 1950 and forward stuff, since the cameo stuff is rarely seen on 1936-1942 coins, it hasn't really caught on. For example a 1939 proof Walker in PCGS PR66CAM sold a year or two ago for around $6000...pop 1 coin, non graded higher in cameo. And a 1950 proof Franklin in PR66CAM sold at the same time for around $9500...a pop 16 coin with one graded PR67CAM.

hope this helps

morris <><

Cladiator

Thanks for the info guys. So I'm thinking it's probably not too easy to find cameo or deep cameo wheaties for a reasonable price lol

CarlWohlforth

Deep Cameo proof Jefferson nickels became common around 1978. It seems by '78 the Mint was making up for many years of less than DCAM coins, or one sided cameos. After that you should expect all proofs to be DCAM though some don't quite make it.

As Morris points out you can find DCAM coins from the 50s. As Russ points out the Mint seems to get progressively better from the '50s to the '70s. Some years are very tough. Frankies from '56 seem most common in DCAM for that series. DCAM Jefferson nickels are downright scarce in several years ('51, '52, '53, '57). Lincolns are almost as tough as Jeffersons.

From 1900 to 1942 DCAM coins are very hard to find. 1898 was a good year for cameo contrast. I'm not sure what happened after 1898. Many 19'th century proofs have cameo contrast though many don't. Still, really frosty, deeply mirrored proofs from the 1800s are not that common and deserve a premium, IMO.