Okay, first person to post the state bird of Arizona and the state flower of Maryland can have these two ULTRA-RARE gems! This is the 3rd and 4th I have found, and I just don't care to collect anything else. If I want a coin with the states on them, I will get some more quarters.
Here's the pics, sorry.... The pictures for the above contest... Now the two questions should make more sense...
Holy cramolie Chris....two minds with but a single thought.......:mouth: And I'm always in the corner.....lol
Holy cow, you got your answer in before I even had the pics up... Sorry for the disappointment... but they are yours... PM me your addy and I will have them in the mail in 10 minutes. B
I have seen the MASON Stamps but not the State ones before... That would be a cool set to go with my Defaced Set and my Counterfeit Set. A State Penny Set!
Hey, now that you have them, what's your opinion of how the two were stamped? The Md shows no sign of the stamp on the reverse, while the AZ is pretty severly flattened on the reverse opposite the stamp... If fact I wondered if the MD is actually an engraving rather than a 'stamp'...
they both look tapped with a punch to me. The 1975 AZ one is much heavier than the 2002 Maryland... maybe that's due to the difference in the strengths of the coins composition which could account for the distortion to the reverse of these too. The 1975 would be softer with more copper. The 2002 Maryland seems just a light strike to achieve the impression. I don't think either are engraved. I am not sure if someone does this by hand, one-by-one or if someone figured a way to do this automatically in that small field in front of Lincoln's portrait with a machine? Now, this one looks to be hand crimped between a die or press of some kind.
