Picture this...

Many amateur shutter bugs go through a series of "the usual suspects" photographs.

Like, "the bee":
BB_IMG_0331cr.jpg

or "the dragonfly".
DFly IMG_0187c.jpg

and also "the lost opportunity". When you're out there clicking away and something really interesting comes out of nowhere and is gone before you have the chance to change lenses or adjust the ISO or really much of anything but take a blurry shot.
moth_IMG_7035cr.jpg

Such was the case with the fellow above. Gone in an instant and I have never seen another one. I sent it to an entomologist friend who identified it as a type of moth (with some parasitic habits as I recall).

*drat*
 
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Many here have used ferric chloride to etch circuit boards. Another use is to "reclaim" a date on US Buffalo nickels (1913-1938). These nickels were notorious for losing their date with wear. A drop of ferric chloride would etch the area enough to make the date visible. Of course, an etched date is not as valuable numismatically as a non-etched date and it is easy to tell when it has been treated.

IMG_2824r.jpg
 
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Hope you're not getting sick of these coin photos, because here are some more....this time, the strange case of how Ben Franklin got Bugs Bunny teeth.

Here is a pic of my 1955 Bugs Bunny Franklin Half.
Franklin1955.jpg

What makes it a Bugs Bunny are Ben's "teeth".
ClashCU.jpg

Those jagged teeth were not, originally, in the die, but came to be, as the result of a "die clash". Consider the obverse and reverse dies and specifically the portions I have marked in red.

Seq1.jpg
Seq2.jpg

Back in the day, if you operated the press without a planchet (the silver slug that becomes the coin), the dies (obverse and reverse) would bang together. If you did this enough times, you would actually "mark up" the die, and the resulting coins minted from the die. Look how the dies line up in this overlay...

ClashOverlay.jpg

Not a variety and not really an error, but it occurred in enough of these, that is, they continued to use the clashed die long enough, that it became desirable to collectors.

Franklin1955slab.jpg

That is how Ben Franklin got Bugs Bunny teeth. :)
 

Ya’akov

Joined Jan 27, 2019
10,244
A picture for today.

Not very special, but I like the trail left by the plane. This is about the best dark sky we'll get in the city here. You'll have to look at it full size to see the stars well.

5DM4 | EF24-70mm f/2.8L USM | 13s f/2.8 ISO400 28mm

night.jpg
 
Boy I wish we had that sort of animals living in the nearby area ... most of the urban wildlife that one gets to see around it is comprised of possums, rats, and stray cats!
Believe me, in many places in the US, there are too many and, without natural predators to keep a balance, they proliferate and can represent a real hazard (e.g., vehicle accidents, tick transmitted disease). They are tasty though.
 

Thread Starter

cmartinez

Joined Jan 17, 2007
8,777
Believe me, in many places in the US, there are too many and, without natural predators to keep a balance, they proliferate and can represent a real hazard (e.g., vehicle accidents, tick transmitted disease). They are tasty though.
I'd be happy if the vermin we have down here were at least edible!
 
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