Reply to Thread

Message:: [QUOTE="900fine, post: 647524, member: 6036"]Bolender wrote The Book on early Dollars (1794 - 1804). Anytime you see a dollar attributed as B-xxx (i.e. 1797 B-3) that is a Bolender number. The Bolender book is expensive and hard to find.  Yes yes yes... get the book. The Reiver book is easy enough to find, and not too spendy. Here is an interesting quote : <blockquote>"Edge lettering is rarely examined closely, even by specialists. Although the edge lettering is impossible to see in certification service "holders", it is frequently found with unusual characteristics. Examples include double (and even triple) punched edges, and "over runs" (with extra lettering). Examples with reverse lettering (with one or both halves of the inscription pointed the wrong way) exist, probably created when coins were ejected, then returned "backwards" into the machine." (emphasis mine)* </blockquote>They are referring to a Castaing machine, which consisted of two vertical steel bars with the edge inscription on them. The planchet was pulled through the space between them, thus putting the lettering on the edge.     * from "The United States Early Silver Dollars 1794 - 1803", Jules Reiver, Krause Publications[/QUOTE]