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1805 Large Cent "Heartbreaker"

Piano1Piano1 Posts: 233 ✭✭✭
in U.S. Coin Forum

Sometimes, I would really like to throttle someone. Assuming this is an "interesting" example of post-mint damage, any theories how it was done (and why the HECK someone would do it!!)?

Thanks. Piano1

Comments

  • Namvet69Namvet69 Posts: 9,080 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Back in the day, a large coin was used to fix something, make a good shim or spacer, maybe. Peace Roy

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  • Piano1Piano1 Posts: 233 ✭✭✭

    Laughing hard here, PerryHall. My wife and I were at Walmart yesterday (sadly) and darn, I think I saw the guy with his truck working on a load of flowing Hair Dollars. 🤣Piano 1

  • Walkerguy21DWalkerguy21D Posts: 11,532 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Definitely pmd, and it is interesting.
    Like a centipede crawled on it while it was still wet lol!

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  • Piano1Piano1 Posts: 233 ✭✭✭

    Walkerguy...which one was wet; the coin or the centipede?

    Piano1

  • lkeneficlkenefic Posts: 8,169 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Yeah... like @Namvet69 says these were used as spacers, shims, washers, etc. since it was less expensive than the steel alternative at the time.

    This one looks like it could have been used as a shim, but there are usually contact marks on the edge where it was hammered in place... this one looks like it was set in place and then something very heavy "walked" over the surface.

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  • Walkerguy21DWalkerguy21D Posts: 11,532 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @lkenefic said:
    Yeah... like @Namvet69 says these were used as spacers, shims, washers, etc. since it was less expensive than the steel alternative at the time.

    This one looks like it could have been used as a shim, but there are usually contact marks on the edge where it was hammered in place... this one looks like it was set in place and then something very heavy "walked" over the surface.

    I do see what looks like evenly spaced “reeding” on the rims, possibly another clue.
    And no other damage on the reverse.

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  • coinbufcoinbuf Posts: 11,535 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited March 4, 2023 11:01AM

    There was a time when this was just a worn cent whose value may have been another use besides a vehicle to purchase something. Just as you toss away a bent dime today as just a damaged item, someone in the future may have the very same thoughts about you. Just because something is damaged doesn't mean it was a malicious act.

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  • TimNHTimNH Posts: 175 ✭✭✭

    Could that be a really bad effort to put some hair back on her, to give the appearance of less wear?

  • Piano1Piano1 Posts: 233 ✭✭✭

    Hey, TimNH

    So someone tried to dress up Miss Liberty's coiffure? Well, I guess ya' gotta' love the Slinky look. Ya' know, the Slinky, like those older-than-dirt metal spring-looking things toys that always got tangled up as they walked themselves downstairs? Personally, I would have been much happier if they gave Franklin of half-dollar fame a beard rather than mess up what otherwise would have been a decent early cent. 😥

    I am kind of leaning toward the used as a shim or spacer theory on the 1805 cent. This won't be the first time I have encountered "alternative uses for coins". When we lived in Peru (1975-79) the 1/2 and 1 Sol brass coins were larger than the size of a U.S. quarter and 1/2 dollar . Hefty puppies these were, and people would drill holes in them to use them for washers because you couldn't buy much for 1 sol and it was cheaper to drill the coins than buying washers to fix things. The government eventually reduced the size and put really neat llamas on the 1/2 and 1 Sol coins. Those were still pretty big, though. They shrunk again...and now I believe they are "Nuevo Soles". (New soles)...and I think I'm off topic.

    If anyone is curious, check out Peru KM-220.5 and KM-222, later reduced to KM-247 and 248. I brought a bagfull of all of these home. I guess I was worried about washer inflation! 🤔

    Piano1

  • Steven59Steven59 Posts: 8,983 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Just for the heck of it - CROP your photos..............

    "When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"

  • Glen2022Glen2022 Posts: 947 ✭✭✭✭

    I thought it took more than 200 years to form a fossil.

  • rickoricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Looks as if it was used as a functional operative, such as the possibilities suggested above. Cheers, RickO

  • SnapsSnaps Posts: 195 ✭✭✭✭

    Possibly the outline of threads from a bolt.

  • Piano1Piano1 Posts: 233 ✭✭✭

    Hello, everyone. Ice and snow currently falling here in NH....again... UGH!

    Anyway, I started this thread "1805 Large Cent Heartbreaker" and I appreciate all the responses.

    Well, today, in that same box of odds 'n ends, that yielded the large cent "heartbreaker", I found the perfect companion piece. I call it my "REALLY Clipped Planchet Half-Cent Heartbreaker". The reasons are obvious. I have no idea how I wound up with this one but definitely, it's a heartbreaker. However, whoever snipped it did a very neat, smooth job.

    I must have about 20 large cents, mostly early to middle years that are chewed, bent, carved on, holed, worn to oblivion, pitted, corroded, and mangled one way or another. Whatever else you can think of...I probably have one of those too. I have no idea what to do with this stuff nor how it came to live in my house. Oh well, back in the odds' n ends box for my heirs to worry about I guess. 😲

    Piano1


  • gonzergonzer Posts: 3,035 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Woman's hair clip for a French braid.

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