Rittenhouse ✭✭✭✭

Back in the 80's and 90's I broke open thousands of 70's and 80's proof and mint sets I purchased for less than face. These were so unpopular you could buy them at 10 back of a bid already a few cent… (View Post)

Here's the image. Yeah, tapered punch really does explain it all. Swat one of those a bit aggressively and a good bit of metal gets pushed up surrounding the figure - viola! - a mm sitting in a hole. (View Post)

I'd email Dr. Robert Gohler, Curator of the US Mint Collection - Robert.Goler@usmint.treas.gov. If they have any punches in the collection, you may be able to get him to photo. The punches used by th… (View Post)

As a former quality and manufacturing engineer, I too have worked with standards. The "guidelines" are standards. That they are visual in nature does not make them any less standards than t… (View Post)

Actually, the dies held up rather well considering the steel available at the time. The piece I have was struck in 1875, Joseph Richardson, the younger, having brought them to the Mint circa 1800 or … (View Post)