Ever see a "spooned" coin that looked like this?

MrHalfDime

With all of the talk lately about 'spooned' coins, or coins where the edge has been repeatedly beaten with a spoon or hammer, I thought some of you might enjoy seeing one of my recent eBay purchases. This is an 1857 half dime 'spoon':

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3971950198&ssPageName=ADME:B:EOAB:US:6

I just received it today, and it looks even better in hand than it does in the picture (it is silver in color, and not copper color as it appears in the pictures). I know nothing of the origin of this piece, but it makes a nice addition to my half dime-related collection.

mgoodm3

link

lathmach

Real neat find, Steve.
Let us know which variety it is. Probably a rarity 7 or 8 coin.

Ray

ms70

Very very cool! I like it!! Now you have to get the tea cup made from a Morgan.

geb209

<< <i>Very very cool! I like it!! Now you have to get the tea cup made from a Morgan. >>



No, I'm thinking about a seated type set made out of eating and drinking utensils.

The Spoon

The Glass

MrHalfDime

geb209:

That blown glass chalice with the 1888 Liberty Seated dime in the knop is an intriguing item, and puts me in mind of a similar piece that I saw a few years ago. My good friend and "Federal Half Dimes 1792 - 1837" author Russ Logan called me to tell me that he and his wife Brenda would be visiting my home state of Maine, so I invited them to stop by and visit. I knew that Brenda was a collector herself, not of coins but of early blown glass pieces. I suggested that it might be a good idea if, while they were here, we visited a world class glass museum near my home called the Jones Glass Museum. Russ laughed and told me that the Jones Glass Museum was, in fact, the very purpose of their visit; Brenda had a week long class scheduled at the museum. When they arrived, we went to the glass museum, and Russ took me inside like he owned the place, rushed upstairs to the second floor, and went all the way to the back of the display floor. There, on the top shelf of a glass display case was a blown glass chalice, much like to one you pointed out. It, too, had a glass 'knop', or bulb in the stem, and there in the knop was the only known example of a Thomas Cains early American blown glass vessel with a United States Capped Bust half dime! I struggled to get a better look at the half dime, and he commented "Don't bother. It is an LM-6/V1", arguably the most common die marriage in the entire series. Now here's a guy who takes his half dimes seriously! He travels 1000 miles, from Cleveland to the back woods of Maine, and shows me the only example of blown glass to contain a Capped Bust half dime - not ten miles from my own back door!

Russ later wrote an article for the John Reich Journal (Volume 12/Issue 3, December 1999, pg. 24) about Thomas Cains, a nineteenth century glass blower from Massachusetts, who not only had perfected the art of blowing stemware with the glass knop, but also of containing coins within the knop. It became his trademark. To this day, glass experts are not sure how he was able to include the coin within the knop, as the coin had to be inserted while the molten glass was being blown! Displaying his wit, Russ entitled the article "Slabbing Circa 1840".