On Aug 10, 2020, Wednesday wrote:
That's cool. Didn't know that was an older method for making expanded shells.

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On Aug 10, 2020, Jxb1989 wrote:

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On Aug 4, 2020, Wednesday wrote:
I ended up ordering an expanded Barber shell from Losh and it arrived last Friday. I spent the last few days playing around with it and using it in routines I do and compared it to other expanded shells that I've gathered.

From the get-go, the overall experience from messaging Losh on eBay to placing my order was excellent. Communication was very fast, the turnaround time for a reply was at maximum 30 minutes. After I placed the order, Losh sent photos of my order after he finished making it. Then after I confirmed it all looked good, he would then ship it. That's about it. Not much more I can say except it was a good experience.

Turn around time for my shell was a day. That was very unexpectedly fast.


As for the shell itself. I'm pretty happy with it. It fits my Barbers really well with an ever slight amount of wiggle room, which I like for all my shells. And the coverage is by default 100%.

It's a bit of a unique construction that I hadn't encountered before. My guess is that the coin's edges are milled off and then the face of the coin is soldered/welded onto a new rim from a different coin.

Because of the construction method the face has no distortion or relief that's been removed since it's still the same coin along with the fact that the depth of coverage is deep.

The only thing I'm a little iffy about is the slightly bevel edges along the shell. But when I put the shell in practice in front of a mirror and camera at a spectator's point of view and distance, that hasn't been noticeable.

Anyways. I'm a happy camper with this purchase, especially with the Canadian dollar being in the gutter. I finally have a shell for my barber coin set.

I'll also add the order was packaged with care with layers of bubble wrap so you don't have to worry about shipping accidents.

So he doesn’t use modern techniques. He hand sands the coins and will solder the rim on for expanded shells and for the copper silver will hand sand them flat before gluing them together. It’s actually a tedious and beautiful technique.