Leaderboard

I 100% understand your point, though I have to say the fine ‘lines’ on the right-hand example look very different, and very suspect to me. Commendable that you’re embracing numismatics at this level, especially for someone of your age. Excellent stuff 🙏

Perhaps, but even the non-shiny one features the same/similiar hairlines across the fields - which could very well be a property of die polishing or even a treatment of the blanks before striking. I also would expect that polishing would cause damage to the design, creating weakness to fine features rather than just removing the matte texture, yet the design is fully intact and very sharp. I am trying to get my friend, who has a PhD in material sciences, to have a look to see if he can determine if this is a production or post production property, so fingers crossed he can find some time to do so.

If the coin to the right is the shiny version you speak of, you can’t rule out polishing or cleaning of some description? Your photos highlights hairlines running in multiple directions, seems odd for a museum coin, which was presumably taken into its collection straight from the press?

Benedetto Pistrucci, arguably the most famous coin engraver, was born in 1783 and died 1855. He was 56 years old at the time of the first photographic portrait. Only two years before his death he was photographed by Arthur R Hamilton. This is, to my knowledge, the only time he was photographed - and could reasonably be the first photograph of a British coin engraver! Most of the images you will find are later (1870-90) reproductions of the original photograph - identified by the black/gray card they are mounted on. I am fortunate enough to be the owner of the original photograph from 1853, signed by the photographer - to my knowledge it is the only one made from the negative and thus the true original piece!

He's was certainly talented! Especially given his short life time too!

Very unfortunate. It would be fascinating to put the face to the name. Joseph Edgar Boehm, however, was photographed quite a lot at least! And by the looks of it he may have been a model at heart 😂