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 Replies: 14 / Views: 1,754 |
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Valued Member
United States
60 Posts |
Here's a 1995 Olympic Coin Die direct from the mint. The census of tennis dies is 145. The business end is so polished it reflects everything. As far as I know, these dies are the only ones sold without being completely defaced. This die was retired because of a starburst after 950 strikes.   |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19935 Posts |
WOW....I've never seen one that wasn't defaced?! Why did they do that?
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Moderator
 United States
187950 Posts |
Very nice!  I am amazed they left that much of the design intact. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12437 Posts |
If you are going to own a die, one of the 1996 Olympic dies would be a great one to have  You can purchase dies for the state quarters(I have a Colorado D die) but the face has been completely removed. From what I know, the Olympic dies that were sold were only cancelled, not defaced. I am not sure why they did it but it has apparently made them quite valuable- I have seen these listed for around $1000  |
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Valued Member
 United States
60 Posts |
Why no more canceled as opposed to defaced? Maybe the Mint was afraid someone would set up shop and start producing coins. That's really reaching. Where anybody would acquire a press with the tons of pressure needed is beyond me. Where would you get the planchets & press without the Secret Service noticing? Sell the die to a Chinese counterfeiter? Man, they'd lock you up for a very long time. Attached is the original ad. The die was about $50 plus shipping. I used it for a paperweight until they started popping up on ebay at over $1000. The last few on ebay sold for quite a bit less.  |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
The presses and planchets are not as hard to come by as you might think
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5318 Posts |
I like that! Obviously defaced, but a collector can appreciate the remaining details. Why deface dies completely? Then it's just an rather boring hunk of metal.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5604 Posts |
That is a very sweet collecting artifact, thanks for the pictures, MIKE
PS: What would something like that cost from the mint?
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Moderator
United States
187950 Posts |
Quote:
Why deface dies completely? Then it's just an rather boring hunk of metal. I agree. I have never understood the appeal of owing a used die since all of the ones I have seen were mutilated beyond recognition. This one actually appeals to me because of the remaining detail. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
Quote:
PS: What would something like that cost from the mint? See Phomeguy's second post in this thread. Unfortunatly that is the only time ey have offered the dies canceled and not defaced. And not they have even dropped the defaced dies from their offerings. |
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Valued Member
United States
60 Posts |
About the defect on the die. It is according to the COA retired due to a " starburst." I've studied the die with various magnifications and seen absolutely nothing. The closest I've come to an explanation is this site from a company called Teer Coatings Ltd. They work or have worked with The Royal Canadian Mint. This snippet from the article says: "" The Royal Canadian Mint is a world leader in the production of numismatic coins in silver or gold and of great artistic beauty. These collector-quality coins have a wealth of fine detail and are highly polished. Until recently the dies for producing such coins were coated with hard chromium using an electrolytic process. This has serious environmental and health implications and also the surfaces of the coated dies suffer scratching and the so-called starburst defects after very few operations. Figure 1: Star-burst defects. These defects on hard chromium coated die surfaces are transferred to the coins which result in coins of totally unacceptable quality."" http://www.teercoatings.co.uk/index...?page=mintedThe attached image is very small and it's hard to see the starbursts details. Does anyone have the expertise to give an explanation and description of a " starburst?"  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1807 Posts |
 to the forum Phoneguy. 'Closed Field Unbalanced Magnetron Sputter Ion Plating technique', that's a long one remember. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2540 Posts |
Nice.
I have a 1995 Torch Runner gold coin die, cancelled as above.
Any idea of value, folks?
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Valued Member
United States
60 Posts |
Treas, I haven't seen any gold dies yet. A gymnastic die @ $999.00 had no bids and ended on ebay. It was relisted and ended with no bids. This tennis die (I have one) went for $503.99, had 18 bids and reasonable shipping. It's the reverse of the die so I'm not sure how the seller determined it is a tennis die. Maybe from the COA? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...290278012586Going from memory several obverse dies went for well over $1000.00. Owning one made me interested in the sale price of course. The price went down, maybe because more showed up for sale. The population of dies is fixed of course but they are hardly unique. Again going from memory I recall seeing a pair of dies ( obverse & reverse ) selling together. I simply can't recall the price or if they even sold. It would be interesting to see if gold dies topped the silvers in price. Can you post an image of your die? Denis |
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Valued Member
United States
60 Posts |
About the "starburst " on retired dies. I'm surprised how difficult it was to get any opinion on what it is. Another board had some answers and an example. I'm leaning toward metal flow.... Yep. Over used proof dies. starburst effect from well overused proof dies These marks are from die stress due to over-use. These patterns are typical on Prooflike Mercury dimesThis example shows the effect especially in the field on the obverse. It's also a spectacular example of 1942 10¢.  |
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Replies: 14 / Views: 1,754 |
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Posted 12/24/2008 11:07 am
