Coinage of The Shire

Eledhwen said:

I look forward to seeing the photos.

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Update on Shire Fest... due to a forecast of torrential rainstorms all day October 28th (remnants of Hurricane Otis) we RESCHEDULED to this Saturday, November 4th. Weather looks like it will be fabulous! Hairy toes crossed for luck!

Will Whitfoot said:

None of the waxes will take the black off... it's a silver oxide coating. I would start with a small bit of your finest abrasive and, using your thumb and a few drops of water, rub it around and see if it will clear the flats. Start on the text-only side. If that is satisfactory then move to the horse side. If it's too scary you can send it to me and I'll work on it, or exchange it if you prefer. Most of them are not so dark. That was one particular batch that stayed in the Livers of Sulfur tumbler longer than normal.

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Thank you for the advice.
I'll give it a go with my finest abrasive paper and see what happens. Some blackening I think is OK... looks "used" like a real coin in circulation.
I'll let you know what happens.

I promised to show something after Shire Fest... finally have a compilation of clips here. A sixty second video that we had produced by Ozark Collective.
Shire Fest 2023
Have Fun!
Will Whifoot

Here's an inscription question: We are working on restoring an 1897 Ferracute E-52 coining press. It is a bit unusual... one of the earliest of the up-acting knuckle-type presses manufactured in the United States, and becoming quite rare. I want to make it something of a showpiece. It will be a working press, but I'm trying to do something a little special on the paintjob. The restoration is nearly complete. In its former life it made clarinet key parts at a musical instrument factory in Elkhart Indiana... where they worked the poor thing nearly to death. We took it from a pretty sorry looking rusty broken down mess to something almost museum worthy! The rather lovely arch-top frame suggested the doors of Durin, and I did nod to that with a hammer and anvil painted on the upper die-holder... but clearly the verbatim inscription from the doors of Durin would not be appropriate here. We have come up with:
Speak Your Dreams - Then Enter Them
Which seems quite lovely... now I need to cast that into Elvish. It would be very easy to simply transliterate the English into Tengwar... but that seems cheesy... much better would be to actually figure out the Elvish phrase. There is a lovely genuine restored nameplate at the top of the press, and I have painted it such that there are two black bars arching up and past that nameplate. The idea would be to try to balance the inscription in two segments to inscribe (in metallic silver of course) around that arch. But... Alas... I am no linguist! Anyone care to help? I can offer a free example of the first coin struck from the press.

Impressive!

You might want to post the actual translation question part here:

Our language mavens may be more likely to see and respond in that forum.

Squint-eyed Southerner said:

Impressive!

You might want to post the actual translation question part here:

The Languages of Middle-earth

Discussions and activities about the various languages spoken by the Peoples of Middle-earth

thetolkien.forum

Our language mavens may be more likely to see and respond in that forum.

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Thanks! Will do that!

I suppose there must be something dwarvish in me... that I enjoy these old machines so much. I like to think of myself as a Hobbit... but perhaps more of a Stoor than a Fallohide. I think one of my great grandmothers may have had a dalliance with a passing dwarf. Some people like cars... me... not so much. They're good for getting around but I don't fantasize about them or wax lyrical about their designs. (even though, or perhaps because, my roots are in Detroit) but these old machines are just something completely different. The modern versions are all just square boxes... nobody does elegant iron castings anymore.

Will Whitfoot said:

I suppose there must be something dwarvish in me... that I enjoy these old machines so much.

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Back in the summer vacations of 1967 and 1968 - my parents and I were living in the US (NYC) since about August 1966 - we spent the actual vacation time in Estoril in Portugal. We also visited relatives in Cologne, where my dad also had business matters to attend to with the company he worked for at the time.
Back then, the Hotel Palacio that we stayed in had an old-fashioned elevator. No buttons, an analog lever of at least a foot long that traveled in about a half circle, up on one side, down on the other, stop in the middle, upright position, elevator speed (slow) regulated by angle away from perpendicular. Usually had an attendant to run it (the hotel has only six upper floors, and is decidedly wider than high). Being 11 respectively 12 at that time, this elevator fascinated me (I had electric trains before this time, and a slot car racetrack, too).
Well, at some point I managed to get into the elevator while the attendant was taking a break or whatever. Working the lever was a piece of cake for me, but the folks running the hotel did have a bit of an 😳😨🥶🤯 attack ... 😏

The Shire Post Krewe, Yule SR1423, Michel Delving

A photo from our ForeYule gathering! Greetings to all and may the good luck and good weather of 1420 bless us all again!

Will Whitfoot. (in the round rose colored glasses)