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The denier of Dorestad was likely struck in the period 819-822 AD. It is close to MEC 771, but there are several known dies. Nice find!

Similar deniers: The obverse reads, Louis Emperor. The reverse is the mint name. These date around 819 AD. I'll post better information after I get home and can consult my reference books.

As long as I was adding a few odds and ends to the Lord's Prayer collection, I thought an elongated cent or two might be nice. Lo and Behold, someone (Treasure Ablbum Dist.) made a full denomination set. I'm guessing the set was made about 1968 because the half dollar is a 1967. The "Elongated Coin Story" that comes with the set states that "The Elongated Year Sets may not be one-of-a-kind, but it is a certainty that less than 200 exist in the world today." Wow. If the original purchaser had removed the coins to photograph them as I did, they would see that the half is dated 1967, the quarter 1965, the dime is hard to read, the nickel is 1961, and the cent is 1964. Not quite a year set, although they were probably all rolled in the same year. The story goes on to "promise?", "You hold a group of coins combining art, mechanical skill, religion, and ultimately financial profit." Wow! The next sentence is probably closer to the truth, "The best characteristic of the set will always be the pleasure you receive when you open the album and see your unusual set of 'Elongated coins'." Don't you just love marketing hype! For a closer look, try the large image.

I'm old enough and been through enough to realize how true it is. We only think the world has degenerated. In researching my family history, I found one ancestor in the 1700s who left a penny to his wife, a penny to his mistress, and the rest of the estate to his other true love than neither the wife nor the mistress knew about! Times haven't really changed that much. We are still human with all our strengths and failings. I find great humor and am reassured by the study of history in comparison to today.

I think he just sold them in his auctions and pointed to them as examples of great American diesinkers at work. The East coast collectors of the period had good access to the mint and other relevant government officials and were bending their ears about coin designs. Farran Zerbe, for example, was active in these efforts as well and the Peace dollar is often associated with Zerbe (much more to this story) and Zerbe marketed the Panama-Pacific commemoratives.

And the obsession continues, although a little larger at 31.9 mm in brass: In general, I'm not interested in medals with lots of "real estate." Engraving small letters is not that big a deal. Engraving really, really small letters is interesting. Ward Beam's Daredevils, on the other hand, did catch my interest. The Daredevils toured the country jumping buses and other line-ups, running demolition derbies, etc. Seven stunt drivers died over the years. I believe this Whitehead-Hoag medal dates to the late 1930s based on its style.

I added another Elder medal, this one a restrike using a Robert Lovett, Jr. die: The medal looks better in hand since the lighting I used emphasizes the surface discoloration of the brass. I'll have to reshoot it soon. Thomas Elder struck this medal in 1917 as part of his campaign for better US coin designs.The medal is listed as Baker 621A and is noted to be a civil war dog tag. It does not appear that it was ever struck as a legitimate dog tag (Baker 620 appears to be a legitimate dog tag). Examples were struck in sterling silver, German silver, silver-plated bronze, bronze, brass, and aluminum.

Welcome to CoinPeople.

Especially since there are good looking ladies on shooting medals. Beware the depths of Scottish desire!

I'm intrigued by the statement that you "made" encased pennies. Do you mean that you were a maker of encased pennies or do you mean that they had booths where you could make your own encased penny? I've never heard of the latter case? Rolled cents, yes. Encasing a cent, no? It sounds like an interesting story.

The smallest piece is just under 13 mm, but the Lord's Prayer is in yet a snaller circle: The so-called Widow's Mite is a store card for the Langdon Bakery, Cincinnati ca. 1895. On either side of the microscopic Lord's Prayer (it can be read), is the maker's mark, MM DUCK / CINCINNATI.

Three tokens acquired recently: Brooklyn Bridge / Lord's Prayer token by George Soley. 13 mm George Soley 13 mm medal struck for the World's Columbian Exposition. The Washington obverse and the Brooklyn Bridge obverse first appeared paired in 1883. It is possible the Brooklyn Bridge / Lord's Prayer medal was a Columbian piece as well. The Washington piece is cataloged as Eglit 255 and Baker 561A (Copper, Rarity 8). The Washignton / Brooklyn Bridge pair is Baker 464E. 13 mm Liberty Bell / Lord's Prayer medal struck for the Columbian Exposition. Eglit 143.

Pond 30 Aluminum Encased Cent, 35mm My latest acquisition. Unknow maker, unknown number produced. A generic luck penny.

1894 Aluminum Lauer Exposition View So-Called Dollar Hibler & Kappen 264 35.6 mm EF Not as nice as the others in the set I am building, but it will do for now.

Congratulations. These early works are wonderful additions to a collector's library.

I love the coins in this series. Keep them coming.

The Michigan Stove Company started using aluminum to alloy with iron in producing their cast iron stoves in 1891. At the time, aluminum was expensive to produce, but it helped ensure smooth casts with no cracks when alloyed with iron. I'm not sure when this aluminum sample advertising medal was first produced, but it is the style of the many aluminum medals produced around the time of the Columbian Exposition. A giant Garland Stove was reproduced in wood and exhibited at the Columbian Exposition and it has survived as a tourist attraction to this day at the Michigan State Fair Grounds. An excellent photograph of the stove can be found on flickr.

Elder issued a good number of medals and store cards and I recently acquired a 1906 store card in a trade with one of our members. The store card is listed as Delory 4. It is struck in white metal. In all, the mintage records for this piece include: Silver - 6 Copper - 100 (57 in the ANA museum) Copper over struck on various coins - 13 Brass - 100 Aluminum - 500 White Metal - 5 Lead - 7 Fiber - 5

Comments in order of yours: I reshot the Carus piece using different lighting and was unhappy with the results compared to the first image. When I went back to the original raw image, I realized I had introduced the over saturation and color shift at some point in the early stages of processing the image. Rather than replace the original Carus image once again, I put the Carus family together and added Numerian. The Carus obverse is the same used for the previous image greatly desaturated, with a much lowered contrast, then tweaked brightness. If anything, it is too light compared to the coin in hand, but it shows the wonderful detail of this piece. I agree that page after page would get boring and one needs to mis things up. Again, I did the Carus family page as I started building the Numerian image. I have several goals with my photography. One is simply a record for my inventory and the other is for use in places like Omnicoin for discussion threads and posts on CoinPeople. Another purpose is for a photo album of my collection so that I can show off pieces and enjoy them myself without necessarily dragging the coins out. These I print 8x10 and that leads to the general format I use here. I keep one image pair sized at 1 to 1 for printing so it is actual size on the page with the enlarged image where one can see much if not all of the detail. The challenge is in finding the right mix to present the images of the coins, present some relevant information, and make it visually interesting. I like the three-quarter view for high relief coins and am interested in the image stacking as you demonstrate on your site. As for the turtle, that's just a damned fine image. I don't collect that type of coin, but I love holding and examining them for exactly the reasons your image reveals. The relief and detail is beautiful. I also haven't really delved into fine details, but that is something for next project with my Celtic coins. Some of the imagery is meant to be seen at an angle and some of the fine detail needs to be separated from the background before one recognizes it as a separate image. New challenges for both photography and then putting the images together to tell the story. Thank you for your comments and feedback. I hope I have managed to convey that I am listening and trying to learn even if my head might be a bit thick.

Silver coins are seriously debased by this point in time (Roman time) and are no longer good silver. At some point they basically become bronze coins with a silver wash. I have to go back to the books to place the Carinus in the proper sequence of debasement, but I believe it is a much degraded, base alloy with a silver wash. The silver wash is gone over much of the surface and yes, that is a low grade form of "rust" that you see.

Alittle different approach, three coins from the same family: A larger image.

After the last two, I added the hint of the reflection of a surface the coins are standing on (I like the feeling of depth I think it lends to the image) and the reflection of the backside of the obverse and reverse images. I dropped back the surface and did not reflect the coins in that surface. The large image. The largest image.

A coin from an early collection (the collector died in 1906 and his collection was sold in 2005) with the original cabinet tag. I've positioned the obverse image over the tag in the same position it occupied for nearly 100 years as indicated by the foxing on the tag. I've also shown the entire tag. The large image. The largest image.

I've reimaged the Carus piece, but I'm happier with what I have posted here so far. I do see a variety of colors on Doug's images, as does my wife, but without the coins in hand, it is somewhat difficult. So, I'm still thinking about further processing on the Carus image with preference to getting a fresh image that I like. In the meantime, I moved on to a Carinus piece (son of Carus). I've dropped the reflection and added a relief image. I'm not happy with the relief image myself, in part because there is not really enough relief to add additional information in my mind. If I was happy with it, I would go back and find some different lighting options , but what I have here seemed to me to show the relief the best. Despite the uneven loss of silvering, I like this piece because of the Medusa shield. It is a rare type. As with the others, comments are invited. The large image. The largest image.