Scrooge McDuck trivia (not answered!)
Richard Schumacher
Don Rosa
> 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.)
Alan & Erin Williams
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...'
Michael E. Marotta
> 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.
Hear! Hear!
When I left COIN WORLD, one of my going away thank-yous was to SUSAN
MALTBY who writes the preservation columns for that newspaper. I gave
her an Uncle Scrooge comic because the cover showed Scrooge McDuck
putting up jars of money.
In March, I will be running a seminar called "Capitalism for Kids."
Scrooge McDuck will be one of the people I present and discuss.
I managed to insert McDuck's name into one of my NUMISMATIST columns
when writing up Dave Parrish's Scottish Banknotes website.
(Denver did not start minting coins until 1906. An 1877 Dime could
have no mintmark (for Philadelphia), an S (San Francisco)or a CC
(Carson City).)
Mike M.
ANA R-162953