I have read several articles about the upcoming Numismatic versions of the 5 oz. America the Beautiful coins, and I am some what concerned about their appearance. Older articles said they were to be on special Burnished Blanks but now that's not the case. The new Mint Director, Mr Peterson, says the numismatic versions will be identically made (but with a mint mark) with the same Unciculated Finish as the bullion pieces. AFTERWARDS it will be subject to an abrasive wet blast with ceramic particles to achieve a uniform Uncirculated look. It certainly isn't a proof finish and there is no double striking for added detail. In fact, an abrasive ceramic blast would remove more detail than the original bullion strike. I thought numismatic versions were to be better than the bullion versions of the same coin? Is this whole thing just a way of appeasing the collector community? It sounds like the bullion piece may be the better of the two.
The American Silver Eagles were released in both bullion and collector (burnished) versions. The only way to tell the difference is the mint mark. It will likely be the same case with these. The numismatic versions are not made to a better quality. They are merely offered to the public directly, that's and the mint mark is the only difference. That's all
That being the case, since I have the complete set of bullion, I guess I would just be duplicating my effort with the numismatic version. I should invest in something else, perhaps one of the gold releases instead.
You've seen quite a few of a coin that won't be released for another three weeks? Frankly if that description of manufacture is correct I would class the "collector" version as being a altered surface coin. As they say, anything that happens to the coin after it is struck is post mint damage, even if it occurs inside the mint.
I will be waiting for Vegas to come out with a slot machine that will take em. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLUl8xkKSTk
There is even the possibility that the 27,000 collector coins could be struck from the dies used for the bullion coins. A total of 60,000 pieces on one set of dies could easily be accomplished. The Mint has already said they wouldn't make proof dies because of their cost. There is nothing stopping them from continuing production with the old dies. They have been know to push the limit on die life before. That could mean more loss of initial detail prior to the high pressure spray with the ceramic particles.
You might use the reverse die but not the obverse. The "collector" version will have a P mintmark, the bullion version doesn't.
Not worth the trouble to punch a mintmark into a hardened previously used die. You can't punch it into the hardened die, so you have to anneal the die to soften it. Then punch in the mintmark. Then reharden the die, clean and repolish it. Then etch the surface to give back the frosted surfaces. Then hope that the stresses from hardening, softening, working and rehardening don't result in internal stresses that may cause premature failure. You say it has been done numerous times. Not with US coins. There are only two or three times when used dies been reworked and then reused (1806/5). In each case the die quickly failed after reworking. Now if you are thinking about the various overmintmarked dies or other overdated dies those dies had not been previously used or hardened. And when you have a die shop continuously hubbing new dies, why bother reworking an old one?
I did group the overdates with the overmintmarks. So when one mint sends another a pair of dies (even from Philadelphia) they are not already hardened? I did not know that. Other than applying the new mint mark, I thought they were ready for use when received.
Im a Toolmaker. It would take very little time to put a mintmark on a hardened die using an EDM sinker to burn it in. Then, polish it out. No annealing or rehardening would be involved.....I dont know if this is what the mint does, but if they dont, they are wasting a lot of time and money making new dies......
