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Unusual weights for 57s?

PostPosted: Sun Aug 28, 2011 7:02 pm
by 68Camaro
Debs calcium dropped and the oral supplements only provide so much, so this from the ER as we wait for blood test etc...

Was sorting through the fractional 90% this weekend, weeding out culls, and sorting by year to get that in control, and think I noticed an oddity. Has anyone noticed a consistent pattern of excessive weights in the halves and quarters that year of 57? Seems like they were strikingly higher. I can't remember the number now but these were just mostly mildly circulated, maybe a few AU and BU in the mix, and they weighed out at well OVER the BU nominal weight of 250. And no, I didn't have an extra coin in the stack. :)

Re: Unusual weights for 57s?

PostPosted: Sun Aug 28, 2011 7:19 pm
by beauanderos
68Camaro wrote:Debs calcium dropped and the oral supplements only provide so much, so this from the ER as we wait for blood test etc...

Was sorting through the fractional 90% this weekend, weeding out culls, and sorting by year to get that in control, and think I noticed an oddity. Has anyone noticed a consistent pattern of excessive weights in the halves and quarters that year of 57? Seems like they were strikingly higher. I can't remember the number now but these were just mostly mildly circulated, maybe a few AU and BU in the mix, and they weighed out at well OVER the BU nominal weight of 250. And no, I didn't have an extra coin in the stack. :)

I think... correct me if I'm wrong... but wasn't it early 1957 when a young congressman named Richard Milhous Nixon visited and toured the Mint facility? Apparently, he was in the counting room when, overcome by the sight of all the blazing white brilliant uncirculated coins in their hoppers... he ran from the guides side and thrust his hands deeply into the glistening coins, all the while cackling "mine, it's all mine," like an alpha male dog gone rabid, guarding a single ham bone from a ravening pack. Years later, when this discrepancy that you mention, Rich, was called to the attention of Mint officials during the Carter Administration, they cited this incident and stated that, apparently, "some invisible slime had rubbed off of Nixon's hands and been deposited on the coins, affecting their weight."

Re: Unusual weights for 57s?

PostPosted: Tue Aug 30, 2011 9:36 am
by JobIII
Beau,

Is that a joke or did that really happen?

Re: Unusual weights for 57s?

PostPosted: Tue Aug 30, 2011 9:54 am
by 68Camaro
No, it really happened... =8-0

Re: Unusual weights for 57s?

PostPosted: Tue Aug 30, 2011 10:23 am
by IdahoCopper
I was minted in 1957, my weight is unusually high..........

Re: Unusual weights for 57s?

PostPosted: Tue Aug 30, 2011 10:35 am
by 68Camaro
I was late 56. Being that close to 57 must be why I have trouble controlling my weight, though I try. :)