XPost: rec.collecting.coins, alt.comics, rec.arts.disney   
   From: williams5@mindspring.com   
      
   Don Rosa wrote:   
   >   
   > Richard Schumacher  wrote in message ne   
   s:<40310107.9FC25694@thank-you.com>...   
   > > What were the date and mint mark on Scrooge McDuck's lucky dime?   
   >   
   > Please! Do not call it a "lucky" dime -- it's $crooge's *first* Dime,   
   > but to say that it brings him magical luck goes against everything   
   > that Barks said of $crooge that made him so great. $crooge made his   
   > fortune by being "tougher than the toughies, sharper than the   
   > sharpies, and he made it SQUARE!" His #1 Dime is a source of pride and   
   > inspiration to $crooge, but not an iota of luck -- that's the domain   
   > of Gladstone Gander.   
   > Anyway, when I needed to decide on a date for the #1 Dime, I   
   > considered when $crooge would have earned it (approx. 1877) and   
   > decided it was an 1875 seated Liberty. (I never needed to show a mint   
   > mark, but it would probably be Denver since he obtained it from a   
   > Comstock Lode millionaire.)(...If Denver made 1875 seated Liberty   
   > dimes.)   
      
   The Denver mint was not in operation at that time.  The likeliest   
   mintmarks would have been Carson City (CC)  and San Francisco (S),   
   although 10,000,000 (half the 1875 production, approximately) was done   
   in Philadelphia. (No mintmark).   
      
   Given that Scrooge took such great care of 'Old #1', it's state of   
   preservation is probably quite good, although he did handle it   
   frequently, and it may have becomed toned by exposure to the sulphur and   
   heat of Mt. Vesuvius at the hands of Magica DeSpell.  (it's 90% silver).   
      
   Today's numismatic market value would be between $200 and $300.  So   
   Scrooge 'knew what he was doing'.  ;-)   
      
   Alan   
   ' and burrow through it like a gopher...'   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)