Strange Dime, error?

koinkrazy

My wife works at a bank and recently found an odd Dime. I wish I could post a pic of it, anyway, i will do my best to describe it. It does not have the reeded edge, it has a smooth edge with a very high rimm on each side. The whole dime is smaller, thus the very outside details are missing, the whole head of Roosevelt is there, Liberty is readable, but the tops of all the letters are gone, can only see 197 in the date, and the in god we trust, just the n god e trust is seen, hopefully that will give you some idea as to how much smaller it is then normal. It has a fair amount of wear, and is a Denver mint mark. I think its still the silver alloy or what ever dimes are made of now. It looks like a penny rim to me, so my first thought was it was struck on a penny die, but it can be because of its size, way too small. Anyone have any ideas on what happened to this coin or what it is?? If you would like more descriptions just ask and I will do my best. Thanks in advance for any help!!

sinin1

is it a hammered dime?


some bored people take a coin like that and pound the rim in - making it smaller diameter
with reeding gone and edge expanded like you describe

koinkrazy

Sin, If it is hammered someone did one swell of a job, it is perfertly round, no flat spots anywhere on it.

sinin1

does it look clad?

could it be a foreign coin that ran through the press? any signs of another design under Roosie?

koinkrazy

No I do not see any other disign. Not sure what you mean by is it clad?

sinin1

if it is US dime from the 70's it will have a copper center layer (versus a pre '65 silver type coin)

outer layers of cipper/nickel bonded to a core of pure copper



reason I ask is to see if right composition or some other 'foreign' type of metal to start with

nwcs

Measure the width compared to a regular dime. If it's smaller, it's had its edge altered. If it is larger and a bit thinner than a standard time it's possible it was struck without a collar. Almost certainly an alteration, though.

grip

Maybe ground down and polished??

koinkrazy

Sin, I don't see any layers on the edge, appears to be all one metal.

MWCS it is almost 1/8 of an inch smaller then a regular dime.

koinkrazy

Wish I had a scale, it feels heavier then a normal dime, hard to really tell tho. If anyone is really interested in seeing it, I could have my brother-in-law try to take a picture of it?

Dog97

Kinda sounds like a dime struck on a foreign planchet but the high, unreeded rims clinches it; been hammered or spooned or dropped through so many vending machines that the rims were peened smooth.

mozeppa

Funny that this subject is mentioned...

last night i found a perfectly round penny, smaller than a dime (in a bank roll)

couldn't read any of the edge letters ...and just about 1 millimeter in from the edge in a perfect circle all the way around...and on both
sides it looks like a de-lamination. the rims are perfect though , no dings or flat spots.

would this also be a hammered coin?

AJ2525

For what it's worth, I have a mercury dime someone hammered down. It's smaller and they hammered it so much the edges are starting to curve back around. They did manage to make it smooth all the way around.

jeffnpcb

In coin world several months back, they discussed a dime that was basically as you describe. They determined that it spent time rolling in the drum seam of a clothes dryer!

cladking

As Dog97 said the coin is almost certainly spooned. These are hit lightly many many times to get this effect.

Mozeppa: Cents are often altered by cutting or grinding the edge in order to be used as a dime. Typically such altered coins are dated before around 1940.

mozeppa

nope this one wasn't cut or ground ...in fact is it edges are perfectly smooth and rounded.

it is a memorial (can't read the date) mr. lincoln and all lettering is smooth and well worn ,and the coin looks like it was heat toned

but only just a little.

the story about it rolling in a dryer seam for along period of time almost makes sense .

my picture taking abilities is on the fritz right now ...maybe on another day /thread