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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;justafarmer, post: 67277, member: 3926&quot;]This is my first post – been reading the forum for a few weeks and joined about a week ago. Anyway here is what I’ve been working on – actually it is only a concept at this time because computer programming is not my forte. Thought it over and decided to post – looking for suggestions, input and maybe even help in developing this idea. I have posted a picture (I hope) for reference purposes to aid in explaining what I am trying to accomplish.</p><p><br /></p><p>My concept is based on the following theory. Mint marks prior to 1989 were hand punched into working dies. The ability of a person to duplicate this punch in alignment, orientation and location from one die to the next is highly unlikely. Being that all US coins are easily attributable to date and mint, duplicating the same punch within the same year is even more remote. Therefore I have concluded that every die which carries a hand punched mint mark is unique and a coin struck by that die carries a fingerprint (so to speak) which can be attributed to a specific working die utilizing the coin’s type, date, type of mint mark (P, D, S, etc.) and coordinates of the mint mark in relation to the overall design of the coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>The picture I have attached with this explanation is a Lincoln Cent but the principles can be applied to any coin struck by a working die containing a hand punched mintmark.</p><p><br /></p><p>You select 3 plotable devices in the overall design of a coin series and utilize these points as standard benchmarks for analyzing every coin of that series. The Lincoln Cent I have chosen</p><p><br /></p><p>Benchmark 1. The point where the part in Lincoln’s lips come together.</p><p>Benchmark 2. The point in B of Liberty where the curves converge.</p><p>Benchmark 3. The point in W of IGWT where the inside lines converges.</p><p><br /></p><p>The next step is plotting many points around the perimeter of the mintmark.</p><p><br /></p><p>The photograph I attached has the benchmarks constructed into a triangle (for illustration purposes I believe the triangle makes it easier to visualize the process).</p><p><br /></p><p>So – how about a piece of software in which you acquire an image of a coin from a flatbed scanner. You plot the standardized benchmarks and mintmark. The image is resized and oriented proportionally based on the distance between the benchmarks. The location and orientation of the mint mark relative to the benchmarks is located using triangulation of the points plotted around the mint mark and the results are compared to a known RPM, Double Die and etc database.&nbsp; Sort of a GPS (Loran) fingerprint approach to die variety&nbsp; attribution.</p><p><br /></p><p>What do you think? Have I been watching too much CSI? Harebrained? Doable? Any computer programmers out there? </p><p><br /></p><p>Oh; by the way – if anyone steals this idea and develops this software or anything similar – I expect a free full version working copy.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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