Three Legged Buffalo

Now that I have re-read your post a couple of times...makes total sense. Thanks.

 

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The incuse features on a die do not have vertical sides. They taper, and are narrower the deeper they get. That's why letters/devices on a worn coin get "thicker" as a coin wears. Conversely, as you polish the fields of a die down so that the devices are shallower, they get thinner. The 3-Leg is proof of this, not proof against.

 

But like every thing else, once it is ingrained into posterity, it is very difficult, almost impossible to put the genie back. It is a variety now in popular print, TPGs, and all the rest , and it shall stay such I believe.

 

Yes, concave. It would be hard to polish something 'off' if it is concave.

Over 95% of the coin collectors (many in their 70's and older) I have talked with go along with the "accepted" polishing off of the leg. I believe this idea was romantized by the late Walter Breen, and many traditionalists do not want to question what he knew, researched and wrote.

Once we discuss incuse dies and concavity, they understand what I believe. That does not mean they necessarily agree, but at least they understand the minting process better.

I am still learning. Every day...

 

You are welcome.

With some collectors, I have had to go with: "We will have to agree to disagree."

I am not going to spend energy trying to convince somebody on something that is not really that important.

 

Very nice coin.

My wife bought me an XF40 back in the late 80s when our son was born.

From this coin, I have learned much about the minting process.

 

You didn't read my post, did you? If you understood how dies are made and what they actually look like, polishing is the only logical explanation for a 3-Leg. By your admission, you're still learning - go out and see just how often what happened with the 3-Leg has also happened with other issues. By the time you're done, you'll find examples in all of them. Start with what happens when you polish clashing artifacts, as it's the most common case for die polishing erasing letter/device details.

 

I did read your post.

I choose to disagree with what you wrote. I was going to ignore what you wrote, until you wrote more...

I am still learning, but one of the things that I have learned is...things are not always the way they seem. Especially when something does not make sense, or when something DOES make sense.

So, for me, the 3-legged Buffalo is a filled die, because it makes sense.

 

It only makes sense to someone who is replacing solid engineering knowledge with "belief." I am not trying to be argumentative here, but I will not allow your "beliefs" to mislead others reading who have yet to learn the same things you haven't learned yet.

Go find out how coins are made.

 

I am not a PE (Professional Engineer), but I do have 30 plus years of 'engineering knowledge' and experience.

 

Here is a thread I put up a long time ago. Especially check post #23. The removal is not as even as one would expect with die polishing in my mind, but that is good as it does allow some markers for authenticity. The thread also has markers for the obverse, which some counterfeiters never consider. The only time I had the "herd" out of individual SDB/Safes to photograph and compare. Jim

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/coin-buying-education-101-3-new-7-31.63603/page-2

 

Then apply your engineering experience to the die production and maintenance process, and tell me how grease would move E PLURIBUS UNUM further from the buffalo's back.

 

What I did not know about was the 'non-straight' line of the hoof. Makes sense.

I looked at mine and it meets all of the requirements of what you wrote.

Thank you for the (re)sharing.

 

Dave, the variety is based on the leg/hoof. I would not eliminate the possibility that more than 1 mint related event occurred during the die run, as it is really well damaged. Even the obverse , as I showed an example in the old thread above is similarly well used, so I imagine they were getting every coin out of it, but I have seen no mint record/explanation as to cause ( as usual). In retrospection, I should have compared photos of all of the obverse also.

 

The wider motto-to-back space is the key pickup beyond the missing leg. Worn specimens lose the pitting and fudge the missing details due to wear; that extra motto spacing is diagnostic down to P01.