Our preference is to only use original, personally owned images where possible.  For coins in the Collection section of the web site only PCGS graded coins from our personal collection are included.  The source for images is noted if the image originated from outside our personal collection, and if the source can be accurately determined.

Where we deviated from this standard we have included only images we believe to be either in the public domain or readily available as if in the public domain.  However, we live in an age where copyright protection is important but often difficult or impossible to establish because of Internet publishing.  Any deviation from this standard should be reported to the site owners and we will correct any information concerning ownership and, if requested, remove the images.  In the digital archives of millions of computers and connections it is not always possible to find the original source for all images since they are often modified, recopied, and/or relabeled thousands of times.

The issue of images and ownership is especially acute as it relates to the counterstamped coins from the fundraising efforts of the SMCMA.  We believe that a complete set of images from a personal collection would be impossible to create as many coins are unique to type.  Also image ownership with regard to these rarities may also be impossible to establish.  For these reasons we have opted to "create" a representative group of images that fairly represent the location of the counterstamped information on the coins.  In each case we have only worked with known images to verify the location.  The font used on the original coins has so far eluded us and in particular the letter "A" is a challenge.  The original "A" has a squared off top and we can find no font that approximates this punch, but we keep looking and if we do find one we will modify the images.

In the Sources link of the web site we have also made every attempt to list our source for any information listed in the site.  In all cases the wording of information comes from a distillation of our reading from multiple sources.  Directly quoted material is enclosed in quotation marks and noted as such.  This is our research and reading list and continues to grow as we find new and reliable sources.

It should be noted that some of the information we have read concerning the carving and coin is conversational or anecdotal and cannot be completely verified.  Our confidence in this material is improved when we find it quoted from multiple reliable sources.  But even this does not assure complete accuracy.  Aside from official government documents (including Mint reports), people were often recollecting and documenting events when asked, often years later and where there was no written record.  This does not discount the value or the source of the information, only that it is less reliable and verifiable than officially documented data such as one would find in the government records.

In the telling of the history of the Stone Mountain Half Dollar, facts or information believed to be fact, has been repeated by many authors.  Every attempt has been made to cross reference information to multiple sources before including it here.  Where information is considered to be general knowledge, such as the date of first production of the coin, we have not included that source because the information is repeated so often that citing to the original source may be impossible.

With many articles or books information takes on a feeling of authenticity that aids in separating facts from fiction.  But added difficulties exist even with this data because commemorative coins are most often included almost as a short story in books or reference works that attempt to cover all commemorative coins.  Detailed information on the Stone Mountain Half by necessity must be pieced together from the amalgamation of all these bits of information.