ELONGATED COIN DIE INFORMATION SOUGHT

A missing die ring is found
(aka why we need more databases and spreadsheets of elongated coins!
Cindy Calhoun, TEC 3467

One of the elongateds included in this issue was a donation from Alan Hubbard. But there is more to the story than just a donation, there were mysteries to be solved! In June, Alan purchased a die ring on eBay. He doesn't have a rolling machine but thought it would be a great piece of Elongated Ephemera for his collection. He sent me a photo of the United States Mint Philadelphia image (the coin in this issue) from the die ring and asked me if I knew anything about the design. I asked a bunch of additional questions about the other images, size of the ring, initials, etc.

 

Fortunately, I have a Frank Brazzell spreadsheet that one of our members developed (thanks Jason). I was able to quickly search and find the United States Mint elongated. I then confirmed the numbering in the hard copy of the Brazzell catalog. The United States Mint image is one of the five images listed in that catalog as Roll 596, done for Ray Dillard. Next was a check of Ray's catalog, which listed the image as DIL-125, with 596-B below (the catalog number from the Brazzel catalog NOTE- I will start using FBxxx-x for this article although the FB part of the numbering isn't in Ray's catalog). The image was done in 1988. Another image shown on that roll is on the die ring Alan purchased, David Rittenhouse Director of the Mint. In Ray's copy of the Brazzell catalog, Ray wrote that these five images were on two different rings. (NOTE: The Brazzell catalog has Roll # with the images. Although it may be thought those images were on the same die rings, that often is not the case.) The David Rittenhouse image is cataloged as DIL-127 (FB596-C), also done in 1988. Two images down, and two to go.

The die's next image was U.S. Mint Bicentennial. Again, quickly found on the spreadsheet then confirmed in the Brazzel catalog as #486 (but listed with 3 other images not on the die ring being researched). In the Dillard catalog this Mint Bicentennial image is DIL-106 (FB 486-A) and was done in 1987.

The fourth image on the ring was a bit harder to figure out. It was coin images with no additional wording, meaning I couldn't find it using the spreadsheet search because we didn't know what the images were. A page-by-page review of pictures in Ray's catalog turned up the image of Half Disme (NO, it's not a typo) (Heads & Tails) as DIL-180 (FB836-A) which was done in 1990. All four images identified, but there were still mysteries…

There was a large gouge on the die ring before the Half Disme image. I went through Ray's physical die records (stored in 50+ boxes in my office) and found a letter Ray wrote on December 10, 1990 to Craig Whitford. Apparently all four designs were done for Craig over a number of years. The letter from Ray was about rolling the Half Disme image on silver quarters for Craig. Apparently the original rolling of that image was on dimes, so the image size was made smaller to fit better on dimes. Here are excerpts from Ray's letter to Craig:

1. Image was sized for dimes, so you crossed me up in wanting quarters.
2. Larger silver coins are more difficult to roll than clad coins. The die bites off the edge of the softer metal.
3. Rolling circulated silver coins is more successful than rolling high relief uncirculated coins. The high relief areas keep the low relief areas from flowing into the die design.
4. In my efforts to center the design on the quarter… I ground another starter notch on the die but as I said, it kept biting off the edge of the coin … then I had to enlarge the notch and increase pressure to make the coin longer and thinner to force the silver into the die.

 

Obviously Ray wasn't thrilled with how the silver coins came out. But his letter provides information I thought would be helpful to current rollers who may be attempting to roll silver coins. It also solves the mystery of the gouge on the die ring. The only remaining mystery… why wasn't this die ring with the rest of Ray's die rings? Who did he send it to, and why? The eBay seller was no help… if you have any information, please pass it along.

Over the next few years, you will receive the other images from this die ring as inserts for the newsletter. You will notice that each of the images will have an engraved star (see previous article about engraving a star on Ray's die rings). I'll be rolling the Half Disme image last… not sure how it's going to roll on a cent with that extra starter slot!

What this research taught me is that we really do need to develop more databases and spreadsheets of elongated coins to make research easier. TEC is working on updating Yesterday's Elongateds with the help of a number of our members who have been entering information into a spreadsheet developed by our TEC Editor, Sandy. We are also piloting digital catalog entry of Ray's coins (including expanding to include the last 10 years of his designs), entry of the hundreds of designs I've done, and starting on capturing the designs made by Brad Ream. We are always looking for members willing to do some data entry on these projects or other related projects. Wouldn't it be great if future generations could go to one place to research and find information about any elongated! Probably not in my lifetime, but I hope it happens eventually! Let's take a step in that direction. If you have spreadsheets of private rollers, other catalogs, etc., that you are willing to share, please let us know!

Craig Whitford writes:

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