APRIL 2004 COLONIAL NEWSLETTER PUBLISHED Público Deposited
The E-Sylum: Volume 7, Number 10, March 7, 2004, Article 9
APRIL 2004 COLONIAL NEWSLETTER PUBLISHED
Gary Trudgen, CNL Editor, writes: "The April 2004 issue of
The Colonial Newsletter (CNL) has been published. This issue
consists of a feature paper, two technical notes and a letter to
the editor.The feature paper is a very interesting and useful study of the
various errors found on early American coins produced before
the Federal Mint began operations in 1792. The basis of this
paper was presented by Dr. Philip Mossman at the ANS
Coinage of the Americas Conference (COAC) in Baltimore,
MD on March 17, 2001. A decision was made not to publish
a conference proceedings for this COAC, thus freeing up Phil's
paper for publication elsewhere. Phil has expanded the paper
for publication in CNL.Minting equipment from the various American pre-Federal
coinage operations has not survived, plus there is no known
written documentation from this era that adequately describes
the technologies employed to mint these coins. The best
evidence we have concerning the minting processes are the
coins themselves. By studying error coins from each step of
the minting process the technology employed to mint the coin
can be extrapolated. In this paper, Phil follows the
contemporaneous minting process from start to finish,
illustrating and explaining errors that occurred in the process.In the first technical note, Robert Martin reports the discovery
of a new Connecticut obverse die. The newly discovered die
is paired with an already known 1785 reverse die labeled A.3.
Tentatively, the new obverse die has been classified as Miller
6.6, thus creating a new 1785 variety, M. 6.6-A.3. Robert
presents diagnostic and metrological data on the discovery coin.An extremely interesting and important central device trial
piece is the subject of our next technical note. This artifact
from the period when British halfpence were being extensively
counterfeited has been the subject of much discussion and
examination over the past several months. The central devices
that are impressed into the trial piece are the same that are
found on the 1781-dated series of counterfeit halfpence. The
authors, Byron K. Weston and Gary A. Trudgen, conclude
that the trial piece is the result of impressing central device
matrix punches into a copper flan.Finally, a thought provoking and informative letter was
received from Thomas Kays in response to our previous issue
which contained Dr. Philip Mossman's "Money of the 14th
Colony: Nova Scotia (1711-1783)." Tom's letter, along with
Phil's inserted replies, is reproduced in the Letter to the Editor
section.CNL is published three times a year by The American
Numismatic Society, Broadway at 155th Street, New York,
NY 10032. For inquires concerning CNL, please contact
Juliette Pelletier at the preceding postal address or e-mail
pelletier at amnumsoc.org or telephone (212) 234-3130
ext. 243."- 2004-03-07
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