Little spin on a barber dime

The Moons of Saturn

Of course. I was mistaken...

Ruben

 

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Jim:
Thanks a bunch.

I'll am wiating at my mail box with great anticipation!

LOL, J/K, but I would love to get one.
Frank

 

gee, lets contact the manufacturer!

Immediately!

 

That was my thought. If we could establish who the manufacturers was then we can determine about how many were in circulation and for how long. That's how a historian and archaeologist would do it. When we dug up sites in Brooklyn, the Lott house for example, such research was key to extrapolating the physical evidence on the site.


Ruben

 

I would bet they are long out of business and I would also bet their filing cabinets full of records on production rates are long gone to the dump. As far as the numbers go - what difference would it really make, really? I think we have substantiated that the banks existed, that they damaged coins in the way described, and that sometimes collectors find the coins with these marks. Unless there is some real valid point for historic/scientific investigation, that could bring something really useful forward, what's the point? Maybe I missed something? It just read like you were making a mountain out of a interesting mole hill. One of those interesting facts you tuck away in the event you run into a coin like this or a bank like this. It sounded more like - I will not believe this hog wash until we have a complete investigation of the facts and a formal report is written. That was never the intent of the OP and for something this trivial I'm not sure why you would expect it? Hey - it's a dead horse. Time to put the kids to bed...

 

sweet coin!

 

Usually business records can be found, although I bet there was more than one manufacturer of this kind of bank. If you watch the antique road show you see they cover a lot of history on the businesses that produce objects and which surround the mystique of an object


In this case, you already have a very valid oral history from a notable and dependable source. Some idea of the extent of the use of these banks can be collaborated to some approximation of the number of damaged coins. As a complete picture comes into view it does two things:

A) It fills in historical value and fact to our collective knowledge. (Image that Dimes were valuable enough to put in their own banks! and used for the price of many serives - like the subway fare)

B)The damage can itself establish a form of pedigree which might develop its own value!

Well originally I just asked for documentation of this. I know its hard to believe but such an inquiry can be made as an intellectual exercise without all that negative emotionalism.

If it was in the red book or a book on coin damage it would have some more vitality because in theory publishers vet these things. An annotated source would be even better. Other collaborating letters, pictures, archaeological finds... whatever.

I asked because I was interested in the story and its potential, not because I dismissed it out of hand. Have a good night with the kids.

Less cynicism and more skepticism makes a healthy researcher

Ruben

 

BTW - Check this out

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/4246915.html

 

i need to get some today

 

One of your questions is answered and better pictures are here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/2-BANKS-$5-B-&-R-Mfg.-Co-New-York-Dime-Bank_W0QQitemZ390007445219QQcmdZViewItemQQimsxZ20081110?IMSfp=TL0811101110001r36535

 

The B & R Mfg. Co., New York. The bank measures 2-1/2" tall (not including the top screw) x 3/4" in diameter and is made out of nickel or chrome plated steel. It holds five dollars ($5) face value worth of dimes (50 dimes).

very cool

 

Good stuff Ruben - now we know more than when we started including the company name thank to the post by skrilla. Lets say they made 100K pieces (probably made many more but it's just an example) that were distributed mainly in the NE but to all parts of the country in small quantities. How do you estimate the number of dimes damaged and possibly still in existence?

 

I don't know. A rough estimate might be that each bank could damage 20 coins over its life use making for 2,000,000 damaged coins? Since the huge percentage of the US population was in the north east it would certainly create an observable pattern of damage as reported by Joe Garbarini .

Now the question is how many they made and after the 17 year patent expired there must have been imitators.

Ruben

 

Normally I'm not one to bump threads (even though this isnt very old at all)
but I was recently looking through my junk silver, and I saw a 1906 Barber dime that had this ring on it!

I was actually going to sell it, along with a few other things for some extra cash, but when I saw that ring, I kept it! lol

So thanks for that bit of info

 

Most of them, except for those melted.

[Just another meaningless statement. Brought to you my yours truly.
Bows to the audience.]

 

Nice -