It's taken me a while to do the proper research to put this post together. You see, I found and purchased what I believed to be Ron Landis' Brasher Doubloon and Half Doubloon reproduction strikes. The difficult part was attributing these pieces to him. Most photos I could find were of some other Brasher copy, and not Ron's. The other part was the sellers photos, as typical sellers photos go, weren't large enough or clear enough to verify. I had to wait until I had these in hand to begin. The second hurdle was finding example photos of Ron's work. To me, the die engraving style was a dead giveaway, but unfortunately, that just wasn't enough. An opinion of style is just that . . . . . Poring through the old Gallery Mint and Vern Walfren's GMMNut websites were helpful with information, but not so much with images. Here is Ron's original article introducing the Brasher strikes, and a snippet from his sales catalog. It seems that Ron made these on "special order" so I suppose there weren't a lot of them lying around for photo opportunities. . As you can see, not enough image quality for a positive identification. However . . . . . . . . I knew that the EB counterstamp used on these strikes was uniquely Landis, so when the opportunity to buy a pair of counterstamped Sacagawea Dollars presented itself, I had to jump on the opportunity. I've seen many, many pieces bearing either the RL or EB counterstamp. I knew that once I got the following pair in hand, looking for the unique signatures on the initials counterstamped into the Brasher reproductions would be all I would need for a positive identification. Here are the two Sacagawea Dollars with the counterstamps. All that I needed to do now, once the Doubloons and the Sacagawea's were in hand, was to compare the EB counterstamp on both. Here are the Brasher Doubloon and Half Doubloon reproductions. Even though much of the host coin remains under the EB initials counterstamp, to my eyes, there is a positive match. The top and center horizontal lines of the "E" with their drooping serifs are a feature unique to this coiner. . Thanks for reading . . . . . . . . . . Z
Yeah, I didn't buy it for that. Just picked it up a couple weeks ago . . . . I got it cheaper than that. It's used you know . . . . Z
But that’s in 1999 dollars Still a great price though! I wish Gold wasn’t so expensive these days It would be amazing to buy gold for $900/oz.
He seems to be most available on InstaFaceCraigsBookListGram. Zoid don't do dat . . . . Besides, there's a Paul Harvey moment on these pieces, if we ever get there. Z
What's also interesting about Brasher is his correct (I believe) syntax used in the Latin motto on his coins. He engraved: UNUM, E PLURIBUS Instead of the more common usage: E PLURIBUS UNUM Z
Very interesting information. I really didn't know much about the coin before your post, I just received this copy. Thanks for sharing!
Your research about the coin is very interesting! Ron Landis also carves hobo nickels so I know a lot about him. His newest project is making banjo picks and they really are works of art. Recently he did some high profile buffalo nickels that were stuck over nickels. I bought some and I plan on carving hobo nickels out of them. Ron and I are friends on Facebook. I think that he would be very impressed with your research! ( I am!)
Hit me up when you get a couple of Ron's high profile nickels carved. I am a regular buyer of hobo carvings. Don't know if you've seen these, but I had one of my favorite contemporary carvers create these from a couple Daniel Carr strikes. Z
I will!! I have some of the Dan Carr silver Buffalo nickels somewhere! I think I bought three of them. Steve carved yours- he really does an amazing job and he carves a lot of hobo nickels. I have met Dan Carr a few times. Really great person. For the hobo nickels I want to start carving them 14 days a month for 8-10 hours on those days. I have a lot of nickels to carve. I might do some other types of hobo nickels also. I have a Roman coin that's 1,700 years old- I might carve that tonight.
I got the whole set (2 dubloons and one 1/2 dubloon) directly from Ron's Gallery Mint Museum back in 1999, as well as his 1796 mint set (1/2 cent through $10 gold), 1792 trial set, 1793 Chain cents, various colonial reproductions (including Continental dollar), and 1804 dollar reproduction, as well as a 4.5 oz. Perseus/Medusa silver medallion.
You have to take into account the time that Ron spent in making the dies (I saw him make them painstakingly by hand), minting, marketing, and paying salaries to his coiners, including the late Joe Rust. Plus the rent on their building in Eureka Springs.
