Altered Coin Question

Woodwind

I have a situation on an altered coin I would like to share with the forum here and possibly get some insight.

About two months ago my dad got a "double headed" quarter in his change while he was in Yuma Arizona. One side is a 1989-D and the other is a 1993-P. Upon closer inspection, even a non-collector like my dad could tell that it was altered. The 1989 quarter was hollowed out with the 1993 side filed down and sandwiched in. Someone went through tremendous effort to create this coin.

Are people doing this and passing them on as legitimate rare mint errors? Is this someone with just a lot of time on their hands and expensive equipment who wanted to show off their work? Or would there be other reasons?

Just curious. Thanks for reading.

eureka

Those are usually sold as novelty items. "Win every coin toss" type of thing. I recall seeing them in the magic section of hobby shops when I was a kid.

leothelyon

Hi Woodwind
And welcome to the forums. It's probably a magicians coin. Most people are aware of them just like you have figured it out. You call it...heads or tails!

Leo

Woodwind

Just after I typed my original message, I thought of the "magic shop" possibility. That's probably the most likely case even though the job done on this coin seems more crude than ones I have seen for sale in magic shops.

Leo, thanks for the welcome. This forum has been enjoyable and informative.

Dog97

Legitimate error collectors know there aint no such animinal (except for the few Byers has)
The people that make them do it for novelty. The problem arises when non-error collectors find them in their change and think they have the find of the centuary and put them on eBay where other non-error collectors think they are making the buy of the centuary.