Stone mountain half dollar

@stgecko if you want to quote another's post, you use the @ and then type in the area after the thingie /QUOTE]

 

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For the dedication (not sure when) they set up a table on Lee's shoulder for a lunch...

 

I believe in 1927 when Borglum unveiled Lee's head and shoulders. They had more confidence than I would have had. However, this could have been when the second carver, Lukeman, was in charge. Interestingly the guy in the foreground on the left looks a little like Lukeman, and the bald guy toward the back looks like Borglum but I don't think they worked together. Most likely this is the Borglum unveiling and everything he did was blown away by Lukeman.

 

That definitely looks like Borglum on the left toward the back; his face is on billboards all over the Black Hills.

Steve

 

By the way, at its deepest point apparently the carving is cut 42 feet into the mountain so lots of seating. But I still think I will keep my feet on the ground.

 

I get vertigo just looking at the picture.

 

Somewhere I saw a picture of this group walking down to dinner. Somehow they got them to the top of the mountain and then they walked a set of stairs down to the carving like the carvers did each day. Since they started walking down from 600+ feet that will give you the shakes. I have been to the top and walked around many times and I cannot even imagine walking down off the side.

 

Nice. I think thats my next purchase.

 

My latest purchase. Not a great one at AU 55, but a start

 

I picked up a SMH recently that is more than a little different. The PCGS number is 03075007 (MS65) and the really high res images can be looked up on their web site so I will not even think about posting it here. The coin is definitely a DDO but it is different than any others I have seen. Often on the DDO Jackson's horse's head is doubled on the front, but on this one both horses' heads are doubled. All of STONE MOUNTAIN is doubled on the bottom. There are some die cracks on the obverse that are different than I have seen on others. But perhaps the biggest thing is I think this is a 9/5 date variety which so far as I know is undocumented.

Anyone encountered one like this? I believe I have a second example but I have not had a chance to look at it in any detail.

 

full of history...yes. controversial...no. i call that personal hatred. lets keep politics and deep opinions out of coin collecting. what happened in the past is history. lets learn from it, not remove it !!!!!!!!!

 

I certainly agree. With many of the articles I want to remind everyone that this is about numismatics and not modern day politics. So far I am discovering that the stories of how it was created, funded, and other issues are enough to study. Heck, just the fighting sculptors is a story unto itself.

But there seem to be a lot of die varieties, cracks, breaks, doubling on the obverse and reverse, polishing issues, rusted dies, and other production issues.

In 1925 it would have been (almost) impossible for a Union soldier to be a mint employee, but not so for their children or grandchildren. The coins were struck in Philadelphia and there could easily have been resentment by Mint employees. I believe some of the sloppiness is related to this issue and perhaps intentional.

I need a little more time to research, but I think the data is there to confirm this one way or another.

 

Very nice commemorative coin. Congrats!

 

I get vertigo just looking at the picture

Just think of the fun Alfred Hitchcock would have had at Stone Mountain.

 

Would have made a great story. Embezzlement, firings, fights in Washington, destruction of property, restarts, failed sales attempts, and on and on.

 

I refuse to own one. I reason for this coin is so wrong

 

I cannot remember replying to this one, but the die rotations are interesting. The DDO, DDR, DDO/DDR coins seem to go with much of the die rotation. But I have located die rotations with no doubling, and doubling with no die rotations.

What does seem to always go with the die rotation is machine or strike doubling. A coin with a 15 to 20 % rotation is a good suspect for the DDO, but not always and especially if is it a circulated coin.