Did anyone read Rick Kay's letter to the Editor in the 4-30-07 coin world?

notlogical

It was about testing the metallic compositions of 1854 and 1855 flying eagle large cent patterns. He said he was 2 years into doing research on it. He talked about using "scanning electron microsope energy dispersive x-ray" or SEM-EDX. I didn't understand most of it, but I thought it sounded cool and that it was cool a friend of mine and a forum member had a letter published.


Way to go Mr. Kay!

numisma

I haven't received my copy yet, but I am sure it is a great article. The work that Rick Kay is doing in this area could be very useful if applied to other areas of numismatics.

cladking

Cool.

This will no doubt be the wave of the future as we try to learn more about the past.

Longacre

It was a nice letter, but I didn't understand it.

RKKay

<< <i>It was about testing the metallic compositions of 1854 and 1855 flying eagle large cent patterns. He said he was 2 years into doing research on it. He talked about using "scanning electron microsope energy dispersive x-ray" or SEM-EDX. I didn't understand most of it, but I thought it sounded cool and that it was cool a friend of mine and a forum member had a letter published. >>



I will be saying the same about you soon enough.



<< <i>Way to go Mr. Kay! >>


Thanks, Samuel. Unfortunately, my subscription has lapsed, so I haven't seen it. I think the most important point to take from the research, so far, is that, when it comes to coins of varying metallic compositions, DON'T trust the slab unless there is proof that some form of non-invasive metallic testing has been done to establish the attribution. Furthermore, don't believe naked assertions of rarity. Some dealers will proclaim a J-170a or J-171a is an R8 coin (two or three known). However, they're not even R8 in my research. I personally own four examples 170a and six of the 171a. I guess the point is "BUY THE COIN, NOT THE HOLDER!"

Unknown

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