Third Barber dime reverse hub type - hiding in plain sight 0

[Big Nub numismatics]

In an effort to produce coins and medals on time for the Paris Expo. the annealing furnace broke and needed repairing. Could this have affected any of the dies, specifically the dime reverse? And if so, could this have caused some improper annealing of the last few that came out of the furnace and possibly the "nub" underneath the wreath?

[kbbpll]

28 minutes ago, Big Nub numismatics said:

In an effort to produce coins and medals on time for the Paris Expo. the annealing furnace broke and needed repairing. Could this have affected any of the dies, specifically the dime reverse? And if so, could this have caused some improper annealing of the last few that came out of the furnace and possibly the "nub" underneath the wreath?

When did the furnace break? The "nub" (die scratch) started appearing with the first Reverse 2 - the 1899-P early release, likely coined in December 1899. It is then on other Reverse 2 coins in 1900 and 1901. Lots of them. So it seems that it was on a master die that propagated to working hubs and dies.

[Big Nub numismatics]

From the "December 8-December 30th Letters received by the Mint headquarters" it says around the last one-two weeks of December.

[Big Nub numismatics]

Barber's first wife died in 1899. It might not account for much, but he may have hyper-focused on his work even to the smallest details (leaves, stems, and the wreath) to take his mind off it. 

[RWB]

RE: "I can understand that they tried to ship them in matched numbered pairs, but I still can't come up with a reason why it would have mattered."

Dies were made in batches which appears to have coincided with batches of steel. By sending mints die pairs with matching numbers the Engraver was attempting to control use of different lots of steel, suppliers and possibly adjustments to hardening and tempering processes. I don't think it was simply a perverse affectation.

 

[kbbpll]

32 minutes ago, RWB said:

I don't think it was simply a perverse affectation.

I understand that they were trying to track something, I just haven't seen any evidence that they ever did anything with the "data". Like a letter from Barber that "hey, this steel was great, use them again", etc. I also appreciate that they tried to be well organized with the pairings, but it often ended up being a hodgepodge. Again, I've only been focused on 1899-1900. Example, the New Orleans die destruction record for 1899 dies. A lot of nice coordinated groups of five, and a lot of "close but no cigar".

[Big Nub numismatics]

It seems they started with aligning the pairs, but ultimately decided, or had to, mix up die pairings. The most confusing bit on the die pairings is the way they go from 1-5, or 6-10 based on which mint you look at, to numbers far greater than anything near them.

[RWB]

We are missing nearly all -- 99.9% -- of Engraving Department data, records, notebooks, and other materials. We can only guess why something was done and presume that the Engraver and his staff were not igorant fuols.

Edited July 20, 2020 by RWB

[Big Nub numismatics]

The beauty of numismatics.

Of this "insufficiently_thoughtful people", of which the New Orleans mint had plenty of, are there any records that we can find that support that this is the real cause. Such records like a greater number of different die pairings compared to the San Francisco and Philadelphia mints?

[RWB]

The New Orleans Mint had old equipment. Annealing planchets was a constant problem, as was maintenance in the humid conditions of the Gulf Coast. Admittedly, some of the workers were not as "professional" at at P, D and S mints. The best trained people did not want to work there.

[kbbpll]

45 minutes ago, Big Nub numismatics said:

It seems they started with aligning the pairs, but ultimately decided, or had to, mix up die pairings. The most confusing bit on the die pairings is the way they go from 1-5, or 6-10 based on which mint you look at, to numbers far greater than anything near them.

I've seen where they shipped 1-5 to SF, then 6-10 to NO. I can guess that the year started out well-synced and then got jumbled as Philly grabbed individual dies for whatever reason. New Orleans does appear to be a little more sloppy - where did that 25th dime die pair go in the list above?

 

42 minutes ago, RWB said:

the Engraver and his staff were not igorant fuols

Of course not.

[RWB]

The Engraver appears to have been highly protective of his territory. In documents we see him treating the Philadelphia Mint the same as the others. However, we likely see less interaction there because much could be done verbally with the coiner and the Engraver could examine dies at his leisure.