DD27's 500th Post Contest!

@dd27, thanks for the shout-out! I'm so glad to have played a small part in inspiring you with this competition. My guess is 1903.

Okay, I couldn't hold out. My guess:

1898

I'm going to provide some clues that will hopefully make this contest more interesting--and more numismatic!

At the same time, I do not want to penalize members who have already submitted answers/guesses. I therefore devised a scoring scheme that gives more credit for one's first guess. Here's the way it works:

You are allowed a total of three guesses before the contest ends on 15 February at 23:59:59 EST (forum time). You do not have to guess three times--you can guess once, twice, or thrice. It's up to you.

SCORING - Lowest number of points wins

Initial Answer
(Difference in years from birth date) x 1

Second Answer
(Difference in years from birth date) x 1.5

Third Answer
(Difference in years from birth date) x 2

Example: If the contest was: What was the last year of the Saint Gaudens $20 gold piece?

MEMBER 'A'
Initial Answer = 1939 = 6 points
Second Answer = 1937 = 6 points
Third Answer = 1933 = 0 points
TOTAL = 12 points

MEMBER 'B'
Initial Answer = 1935 = 2 points
Second Answer = 1932 = 1.5 points
Third Answer = 1934 = 2 points
TOTAL = 5.5 points

Thus, even though Member 'A' eventually got it exactly right, Member 'B' would still win.

(Note: If someone points out an aspect of this plan that is clearly unfair or unworkable, I will change it.)


FIRST TWO CLUES
These first two clues are primarily given as an example of what the clues will look like. They are genuine clues, but they don't help much. Subsequent clues will become progressively more helpful in narrowing down my paternal grandfather's birth year.

CLUE #1: This coin was NOT being minted when my paternal grandfather was born:


Photographs by Heritage Auctions.

---

CLUE #2: This coin was being minted when my paternal grandfather was born:


Photographs by Brandon Grossardt

1900, 1899

second guess:

1904

OK let me check myself here. During what years was the Morgan dollar minted? I thought that it ended in 1904, except for the one year revival in 1921. Is that incorrect?

Please go ahead and submit a new 2nd guess Buddy. If we're not flexible with a 5+ years CCF member-supporter with over 5,000 posts then something's wrong...

Plus I made the same mistake, thinking (without thinking) that Morgans ended in 1921.

~ Mark

Thanks for giving me another chance. It's so embarrassing because I did point and click on US Coin Facts -- but that's as far as I went. If I'd done one more point and click I could have seen the chart. So lazy.....


Okay two more guesses for me.

1890

1903