Dan Carr's earliest!
The "latest" thread got me thinking about how long Dan has been designing coins and minting medals as well as how long his website and catalog have been around. He's definitely been a huge asset to the hobby from my perspective.
Here are some of my early pieces obtained directly from Dan covering designs he submitted to various coin design competitions. The Maine quarter design was the winning design for the 2001 quarter before the Mint altered it for production. The 2006 Colorado design was submitted by Dan to the Colorado Governor's office in 2004. The Sacagawea design was part of his submission to the US Mint for the golden dollar where the reverse was a finalist. The letter below is directly from Dan's website regarding the Sacagawea coin. I also have a few others from my early orders and may post those later but I'm fond of these for their connection to design competitions.
Show off your early Dan Carr pieces!
Comments
The Maine design is so much better than the production design!
I have long been a fan of Dan's work and have acquired some pieces... Cheers, RickO
I have a lot of admiration for Dan and his designs, but especially his ingenuity and tenacity. I was tempted to resurrect this thread about his acquisition and restoration of the Denver Mint press. A wonderful story...
Lance.
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/696424/we-are-the-denver-mint/p1
Funny, I just posted this one elsewhere. It's not quite as early, but the 'Amero' coins were/are pretty neat. I saw a few conspiracy theorists try and use them as 'proof' that there was a plan afoot to forcibly combine Mexico, US and +/- Canada. Personally, I just happened to like the motif and the metal combination.
I once saw a piece struck in pewter from a die he designed and hand cut. I believe it was a sphinx and pyramid if memory serves. The dies were used to strike a handful of pewter planchets using a 7-ton screw press operated by an ANA summer seminar class in the early-mid 2000's I believe
Love his panda token !
Its hard to believe that later this year or early next year it will be 10 years. I look forward to any 10th anniversary issues!
And his titanic proof only 50 made
I see your Panda pictures fine.
Confederate double eagle brass only 199 made
I have always admired his original works.
Sorry dont have a picture of mine but you got to love these special event tokens
I especially enjoy the wide variety of designs Dan does for coin clubs and other numismatic organizations. Many have quite small mintages and are always a pleasure to find. Here is his first (2007) Knights of the Coin Table Medal, 38mm .999 silver with lightly beaded finish on the obverse ~ 33 of these were struck.
The very first item I produced was the "2001" brass Astronaut concept dollars "ONE ROLLER". That was, I think, 2005. I did not have any minting equipment at the time. I cut some 8-inch black acrylic models on my small milling/engraving machine. Those models were sent to a person who had a reduction lathe, for making the actual dies. Then the dies were sent to another private mint for striking.
The ANA Summer Seminar where the hand-engraved pewter pieces were made was in 2008, I think.
My first purchase from Dan back in June 2012, not a coin but a cool bar.
My first two D.Carr purchases were Grabener Coin Press Medals which were struck on one cent and 25 cent planchets which were found in the press when he was restoring it.
Both were slabbed by Annacs.
I enjoyed Dans photos taken during the process to get it running, and I just thought that was pretty cool.
Been a Satisfied customer since then.
I bought a marauding Lobster from 2003 last year off ebay. Looks like this.
A 1999 shunpiker. The earliest?
The dates refer to the dates those state quarters were issued, they are on the originals. Not the date Dan released the overstrikes
OK,. So when were they minted? Anyone?
I'm not sure actually. I don't really follow them. Maybe they were done in the years the originals were released. His blog doesn't give manufacture dates and it looks like the only one overstruck on a genuine US mint coin was the "2000" Maryland (and Coin Heist Michigan quarter) its also that's the only one with the date in quotes and also the only one that says when it was struck (2010).. Maybe Dan will chime in.
LOL!
My first order, order number low 3000's
2006-D Denver Mint 100th Anniversary $20 token, brass prooflike
0011BP "1" Grabener Coin Press Medallion
GP_01_C 1 "5" Grabener Coin Press Medallion
GP_05_C 1 "25" Grabener Coin Press Medallion
GP_25_A 1 "25" Grabener Coin Press Medallion
GP_25_G "50" Grabener Coin Press Medallion
My earliest date:
http://www.moonlightmint.com/dc-coin_cobs_list.htm
Cautionary tale to flippers: Not all Carr products are guaranteed money-makers. I bought the above cob last year on ebay for $47 (well below issue price).
Successful BST transactions with forum members thebigeng, SPalladino, Zoidmeister, coin22lover, coinsarefun, jwitten, CommemKing.
Cautionary tale to flippers: Not all Carr products are guaranteed money-makers. I bought the above cob last year on ebay for $47 (well below issue price).
Weird, as best I can remember, all mine came in official flips with a COA from Dan and I got all variants. Are you sure that's real? It just doesn't look right to me.
Yes you have to select the right tuff
?
first of all buy what you like ! but if you buy the fantasy date overstrikes and someday decide to sell you will see a profit
Great info on the early process for the one roller coin. It's one of my favorites and I like the idea of celebrating America's ingenuity of getting man on to the moon. The 2009 version was my avatar here and ATS for many years. It's always great to hear your minting process. I'd love to mint something myself one day.
Here is my 2001 silver Astronaut "ONE ROLLER" concept dollar along with a 2006 silver Denver Mint Centennial and 2006 brass TAMS Denver Mint Centennial medal.
Some interesting tidbits:
Keep on making great pieces Dan! It's great to see how far things have come and can't wait to see what's next!
The cob shown was engraved and struck by me. But I can tell from the toning and subsequent wire brushing that it is one that Dave Emslie marketed (he also fabricated the silver blanks for them). That is also his type of insert - mine were different. His issue price for them was typically about $45 to $50. He may still have a few that were struck late in 2016 that are still being dispersed. So $47 is not much (if any) below the issue price.
My antiquing process was different. It was more labor intensive and did not involve wire brushing. My issue price for the antiqued version was higher than $47 ($80, in fact). That particular die pair ("B" - Atocha & Cross / Lion between Pillars) had the following mintage:
brilliant satin: 17 (Carr);
color-toned satin: 18 (Carr);
Antiqued: 7 (Carr) plus 1,000 (Emslie).
All of my cob production details are listed here: moonlightmint.com/dc-coin_cobs_list.htm
There is only one recent eBay sale (that I know of) of one of my cobs that wasn't an Emslie edition. It was a Die Pair E brilliant satin, 16 minted, issue price $60, sold "Buy it Now" for $75: ebay.com/itm/262786456639
I have one of these, but unfortunately can't lay my hands on it at the moment....
As I recall, a set of six pewter tokens, each by a different engraver, cost $20.
That "2001" 1/4-troy-oz silver Astronaut concept dollar is definitely a rare one.
In 2005, after I had dies made from my 3D models using a reduction lathe, I sent the dies to Sunshine Minting with instructions for them to mint brass pieces and 100 1/2-troy-oz silver pieces. A few days after receiving the finished coins from Sunshine Minting, I examined the silver pieces and I noticed that the strikes weren't very good. And then I noticed that the silver ones were quite a bit thinner than the brass. So I weighed one of the silver and found out that it was 1/4-troy-oz, not the 1/2-troy-oz that I paid for ! They had shorted me 25-troy-oz of silver ! After I reported the discrepancy to Sunshine Minting, they were eager to rectify the situation. They asked me to send the 100 defective silver pieces back and they would mint 100 of the 1/2-troy-oz silver and send those back to be. I examined all 100 of the 1/4-troy-oz error coins and I decided to hold on to the best 9 of them and returned 91 to be melted. Of those 9, I kept two or three and sold 6 or 7. At the time I asked $175 each (which I thought was a lot), but I was still able to sell them.
In 2006 my major product was the Denver Mint Centennial tokens. Again, those dies were made via a reduction lathe from 3D black acrylic models that I sculpted and cut. I sent those dies to Northwest Territorial Mint with instruction on what to mint. After the initial run was complete, the finished tokens and dies were sent to me. I then spent about 10 hours doing selective polishing on the dies so as to achieve a different look. I sent those dies back to Northwest Territorial Mint with specific minting instructions. Without consulting me, they sandblasted my dies and wiped out all the selective polishing I had done ! And then they produced the second run with the dies in that sandblasted state. I was extremely dissatisfied with their actions. I wrote a letter about the fiasco and sent it to Ross Hansen, President of Northwest Territorial Mint. Unlike Sunshine Minting, Northwest Territorial Mint seemed to have no interest in the situation. Ross Hansen did not even bother to reply to my letter. At that point, I decided that I needed to get my own stamping operation going, so as to avoid these kinds of aggravations. I was already doing the hard parts (design, sculpting, engraving), so why not do the rest myself. So I set out to secure a facility and a coin press (which I did in 2007). More recently, Ross Hansen was found liable for a $37 million defamation judgment against him from a former associate. Northwest Territorial Mint declared bankruptcy and numerous customers who had ordered and waited months for bullion products lost their money and never got their bullion.
So, bad experiences can sometimes result in good outcomes.
The parody state quarters and the ME, NV, and CO concept quarters were produced in 2006. I made the 3D models for them in black acrylic, and the dies were made on a reduction lathe. Regency Mint in Utah did the striking, under my direction.
Gotta love when life those you a curve ball and you hit a grand slam
Thanks for the background on the 1/4 ounce Astronaut roller and Denver Mint Centennial @dcarr . It's great to hear what goes into creating these pieces out. Whatever happened with the sandblasted Denver Mint Centennial pieces? Regarding the behavior of the mints you worked with, it seems what goes around comes around! There is some justice in the universe.
Here's a pic I took of the Astronaut roller a few years ago. I did some photography experiments before I decided to wait before I got serious about coin photography (which is still waiting to happen).
I hate to see the D. Carr brand cheapened by these parody coins.
I don't think they cheapen the brand. It's good to see Dan's creative and humorous side!
For example, I like his Puppet Masters and MIC pieces as well.
My 1st purchase was in September 2010
INYNWHWeTrust-TexasNationals,ajaan,blu62vette
coinJP, Outhaul ,illini420,MICHAELDIXON, Fade to Black,epcjimi1,19Lyds,SNMAN,JerseyJoe, bigjpst, DMWJR , lordmarcovan, Weiss,Mfriday4962,UtahCoin,Downtown1974,pitboss,RichieURich,Bullsitter,JDsCoins,toyz4geo,jshaulis, mustanggt, SNMAN, MWallace, ms71
I won that one, nice to receive confirmation that you made it
I like the cob... unique design and detail...had not seen that before. Will have to watch for one... Cheers, RickO
Really? They show wit and imagination. I prefer them to precise copies of older U.S. coin designs, but that is just my opinion.
Great background info here of which some I had not heard of prior to this thread . I'll have to dig some of my early pieces out for pics. Many though are tucked away in the sdb ..
Check out this handsome young man holding the casting for the future Denver Mint Centennial issue .
It was tucked away in my photo archives
Maybe not my earliest DC piece, however it is certainly my most cherished.
One day upon opening the mailbox I discovered a beautifully written card from Dan's daughter and inside was this wonderful medieval coin . Inside she explained to me that she had a Middle School project (Medieval Fair) in which they were doing things from the Middle Ages. She said that she and her Dad focused on coinage and that Dan had helped her design and stamp these tokens for the fair .
They can be found under "Special Events" in the MM site catalog.
I can't tell you how special it makes me feel to own one of these and the accompanying card from his daughter
Sorry I'm not the best coin photographer, however one of these days I'll break down and buy an Ollo clip for my IPhone..
2010 Medieval Fair Token Bill Reed Middle School
@dcarr I just ran across the following on the bay and was wondering if you can confirm if you antiqued about 10 of these in .999 silver per the auction description? If so, could you update your catalog?
Auction:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Daniel-Carr-2003-Silver-Maine-Quarter-Pemaquid-Light-Victory-Chimes-Schooner-/132305235045
Seller's photos matted for posterity:
Catalog:
http://moonlightmint.com/dc-coin_prot_quarters_list.htm
I have not always kept track of post-strike finishing (such as antiquing, color-toning, burnishing, etc).
In recent years I have tried to record that information more completely.
10 is a reasonable estimate of the quantity of that particular piece that was antiqued.
That figure was conveyed to the buyer of it at the recent Denver ANA show.
I had a tray with 10 of them from my "archives", and I believe that is all that were produced.
Good info Dan. Could you update your catalog to include this note?
I picked up one of these and think it looks great. I like how this uses your accepted Maine quarter design and it goes great with my other Maine pieces of yours.
Did not know that about your Denver Mint Centennials. I have one of the silver ones and it is one of my favorite designs, sorry it doesn't have the look you wanted but it's still a winner in my book. As was your obtaining the Grabener Press!
Whatever you are, be a good one. ---- Abraham Lincoln
My 1st purchase was 9/24/2010
1964-D" Peace Silver Dollar fantasy issue, Bulk-Handling Finish, MS-63 grade, Limited Quantity Available
INYNWHWeTrust-TexasNationals,ajaan,blu62vette
coinJP, Outhaul ,illini420,MICHAELDIXON, Fade to Black,epcjimi1,19Lyds,SNMAN,JerseyJoe, bigjpst, DMWJR , lordmarcovan, Weiss,Mfriday4962,UtahCoin,Downtown1974,pitboss,RichieURich,Bullsitter,JDsCoins,toyz4geo,jshaulis, mustanggt, SNMAN, MWallace, ms71
Here are a few TAMS pieces I own that are not common:
Those are great @USAROK! I have some of the more common TAMS medals because I like how they use Dan's Denver Mint Centennial design. It's great to see Dan's early work with different metals and finishes! Thanks for sharing!
I'm a big fan of @dcarr's early prototype dollars and his open house medals. Here's one that combines both that I'm fortunate enough to have in my collection.