gxseries Posted July 19, 2005 Report Share Posted July 19, 2005 Something very peculiar but I wonder if anyone has any experience on how to handle a die, or even send it to anywhere for vertification. (yes, I know I have posted this sometime ago in the previous old CoinPeople.com forum... ) The die that I have is a Meiji 27, 1894 Japanese 1 yen obverse side. There are signs that it is getting rusty and aftermarks of crack signs. Die images: Size of the die: Die and a Genuine coin detail comparison: Die (flipped over): Genuine Coin: It seems that this die seems to be awfully genuine to be true, but nevertheless, I still need to maintain it and if possible, sent it for verification if this is ever possible. Bigganddy took a look at it and believed that it is quite likely a genuine one. The dimension of the die seem to fit the coin exactly, which is another suprise. At one stage, I was being stupid and careless and moisture got in... and the whole die was covered with rust... thanks to my retarded Calcium Chloride leakage incident... I was pretty much force to clean it for more than 100hrs+ with weak metal polish and rust proof solution, WD-40 (yes...). At least, more details are revealed compared to the past. What I am doing now is covering the surface with WD-40, as it is a rust proof solution, hopefully that does not damage the die in any other way or so... Does anyone have better solution to this? Also, are there any "die specialists" who are expert in such field? I was planning to go to the Japanese mint to verify it, but then, I could be in real trouble as which, if the die happened to be a genuine one, it would be considered as a government property and who knows if I could get prosecuted... Anyways... that die took too much of my time... that explains why I am rarely here these few days... Now enough of my rambling, please continue on and post any random opinions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
28Plain Posted July 20, 2005 Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 That's a beautiful artifact. A hardened steel die like that could probably be polished a little more agressively than you described without harm to the detail, but you've done a nice job of getting the rust off. WD-40 is a little thin for long term rust protection. You may do better to give the die a nice coating of something like petroleum jelly or even a clean, non-detergent oil such as 90w gear oil, then wrap it in oily brown paper and keep it sealed in a ziploc bag until you feel like showing it or admiring it yourself. Sorry, I don't know anything about authenticating dies. That one's very nice indeed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GDJMSP Posted July 20, 2005 Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 If it were me I'd contact the ANA or the ANS. I'm sure they could help you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gxseries Posted July 21, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 21, 2005 That's a beautiful artifact. A hardened steel die like that could probably be polished a little more agressively than you described without harm to the detail, but you've done a nice job of getting the rust off. WD-40 is a little thin for long term rust protection. You may do better to give the die a nice coating of something like petroleum jelly or even a clean, non-detergent oil such as 90w gear oil, then wrap it in oily brown paper and keep it sealed in a ziploc bag until you feel like showing it or admiring it yourself. Sorry, I don't know anything about authenticating dies. That one's very nice indeed. Most definately I would have liked to have polished it a bit harder, but I am awfully concerned over the die crack as you can see it from 6o'clock to 9o'clock. Least, I am not going to complain over the original state of the die - the genuine coin there costed slightly more than what I paid for the die Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
28Plain Posted July 23, 2005 Report Share Posted July 23, 2005 Sounds like you got a good deal. US dies are always torch cut when they're retired. Kind of a melodramatic way of keeping counterfeiters at bay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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