Has anyone seen the recent predecimal die variety catalogue in the May edition of ACBM?
It would appear Fred has given us an insight into his view on a die based catalogue, although I'm having trouble understanding some of the differences.
Overall though, I think its a great piece of work and will certain help me get some focus in attaining die based collection.
Interested to hear some views on what others think of this approach or ideas on other approaches to develop complete collections.
we don't get many coin books around here so most of the time I have to get them from coffs or order them in :( I'm getting more into predecimal so the next time I'm in coffs I'll see what they have :)
Its in the coin and banknote magazine for May AJ.
For me a date set is good enough. Id rather have A nice exanple of a more common variety than two or three examples of each date so that i have all the very minor differences. I suppose if youre not fussed about grades or you are seriously loaded then it might be fun.
Oh sorry, thanks Matt :good:
I think what he's doing is good. I would like a complete set including the sort of variety Fred Lever is into, and good references on the subject don't seem to get a lot airplay unfortunately.
no, I haven't seen it as I need to buy one (CAB)
what is Fred suggesting?
Concisely, Fred is suggesting that a complete collection of predecimals can be defined through the various different dies used. He goes to great lengths to confirm that errors do not constitute a variety in his research.
The result of this research is a comprehensive list of years, mints and die varieties. To obtain a complete set in this order beyond the normal date set.
Its a good set which he has obviously put a great deal of research into. Its just not my sort of thing at this point in my collecting. Would be quite a challenge to complete.
ah - thanks
so you'd have to have all the various die combos - like the various London, Indian, Perth or Melbourne dies etc obverses and reverses, I suppose
certainly one for the specialist
I suppose he'd also recommend the various dot positions, missing mint marks (i.e. the missing I on the 1942 penny - Bombay) as they are different dies too
most varieties collectors probably have these sets ex the 1931 dropped 1 Indian & the 1930's otherwise collectable if you are a varieties collector and very patient!
I have his varieties book (not the very latest) and I do try to teach myself the dies that he has listed
I also get myself quite confuddled as well!
Yeah it goes into all the different date spacings and mintmark positions (which isn't really my cup of tea) as well as the different obverse and reverse dies (which are lot less confusing in the silver thankfully).
I have been following his work for quite a while, his research is pain stacking. His lists are most complete of the date & die variety I have seen.
But alas sometimes very confusing regarding different dies used in producing certain dates.
Various dots are not his thing nor are die cracks.
If you are able to complete a date & die list gee it would be tough the easiest would be the 2/- the 1/- & the 6d.
Just trying to count denticles nearly sent me blind, I now use software blow things up & mark denticles in groups of 10 or whatever.
But do 2 counts & you can get 2 different figures damn.
His list's are far more accurate then in any of the other books.
Oh & in the next whatever he will be doing dollar coins.
I wonder if the position of the milled rim will come into calculation?
Is there any right or wrong position for interrupted edge milling?
Interest - you can cheat a bit by using denticle & letter alignment instead of count
I gave up on counting for the same reason
but yes, I certainly use the large screen on the computer for my errors - in fact I often find the error on the computer screen after having missed it in the hand
Interest - What photo software are you using to blow images up? I'm still struggling to take decent photos, but if I can blow up the photos I have, then that might be a start.
I've gone back over Fred's catalogues and some of his identifying notes need a bit more clarification, although it's hard to fault someone that has spent so much time and energy into developing such a comprehensive body of work.
Quote from: 'Mister T' pid='14931' dateline='1368656459'Is there any right or wrong position for interrupted edge milling?
Hi Mister T,
Goldie spent a lot of time scanning the milling positions of a lot of different dollar coins trying to come up with a pattern as to where the milling started, using the obverse & a common starting point.
It was a very interesting exercise.
But alas all of that information has disappeared.
But to answer your question, from memory I think that there was a starting point.
Maybe some one asked as to wether the first pressing of the 1984 MOB dollar coin would have been the correct starting point for the interrupted edge milling position & any different position would have to be a variety.
Can't quite remember the outcome.
But it sure lead to a lot of discussion.
Goldie sure put a lot of time & effort into the whole exercise.
Maybe Mr Lever will be able to shine some light on it.
Or even "Is there any right or wrong position for interrupted edge milling?"
Thanks interest. I wonder if the collar die is circular of square. If it's circular then I would think there's no right or wrong orientation.
Quote from: 'coxspau' pid='14947' dateline='1368663433'Interest - What photo software are you using to blow images up? I'm still struggling to take decent photos, but if I can blow up the photos I have, then that might be a start.
I've gone back over Fred's catalogues and some of his identifying notes need a bit more clarification, although it's hard to fault someone that has spent so much time and energy into developing such a comprehensive body of work.
I use a scanner Cannon 8800F. I scan at 1200 DPI use Photoshop for software, that way I can get it really big.
I'd like a good Camera, but then I'd love a Gibson ES-335 guitar.
I think my hubby wants one of those guitars too
Quote from: 'Mister T' pid='14931' dateline='1368656459'Is there any right or wrong position for interrupted edge milling?
No, there's not. When placed in the press the collar die is not oriented rotationally so the relationship between the interrupted edge milling and the obverse/reverse die is completely random. There was some thought for a while that perhaps it was fixed but a quick look at portable press coins a few years back showed that every time technicians removed the collar die it was put back a different way.
Quote from: 'Mister T' pid='14972' dateline='1368672590'Thanks interest. I wonder if the collar die is circular of square. If it's circular then I would think there's no right or wrong orientation.
It's circular and not keyed so the orientation is completely random.
When I spoke to the RAM authorities re the reeding position I was informed that there was insufficient room to put a location stop on the die whatever. I thought that they had fixed this problem with several of the recent $1 coins not showing any differences in the reeding position.
That changed dramatically when I minted the MYO coins on the VG presses a few weeks ago. They are certainly not in the same location on either of the presses
Thanks markn and Goldseeker. It had always appeared random to me, and from what I've seen of presses, the collar die does seem round, but you never know.