SwamperBob,
Thank you for your observations and questions. I now have the coin in hand and assembled some additional information with the help of Jurek at
NumismaticStore.
1. The 4 mark coin was struck on a Weimer press, which was based on the same technology as the roller-mill coining press.
"The coin rolling-mill was first conceived by Leonardo da Vinci and became popular in Europe around the mid-sixteenth century. This was the type of machine employed in the most of Europe mints to "roll" (not "strike") coins from 1586 through 1772 when screw-presses were finally installed. The rolling-mills (with smooth instead of engraved roller surfaces) continued to be used however to prepare the metal strips, and are similar to machines used in mints today for the same purpose."
2. The coin weighs 21.37g, the reference value from Krause KM#193 is 22.02g, 0.750 silver.
3. The coin does have some odd characteristics. However, it does not look like an obvious cast to me. Many of the letters do show doubling with some shift in position. The thinness of some of the letters appears to be a result of the double or triple impression with shift. The speckles in the fields look more like flan defects than casting bubbles. There is fine detail without granularity or extra metal in the devices. The wear on the face, curls and bust appears natural. The edge is plain without any seam and appears to have some normal wear consistent with the rest of the coin. I could be wrong, but it seems ok to me.
The only other coin I have see of this type is currently running on
tradera. It is the same year but a different variety with a slightly different style portrait and a second ring of beads on the reverse. However the characteristics of the metal used is similar and this example shows very similar doubling in the legends and speckling in the fields.
Posted 11/20/2007 08:39 am
