Found at flee market lucite paper weight

papabear

The paper weight has these coins in it.
1854 1$ gold AU
1866 &1869 3 cent fine
1862,1863,1880,1887,1888,1907 Indian cent's circulated.

What would you do?
Break them out or keep it as is?


Help me make up my mind

Thank You Papabear

drwstr123

I don't see any need to do anything until you deceide to break up the set. Nice find! Mike

AnkurJ

Very cool!
If you dont mind me asking, what did it cost?

Ankur

papabear

less than XF bid for the $1 gold

Boom

Free them Papa. Free them.

Boom

Then again, on 2nd thought.... they're just fine and preserved quite well just as they are.

Hyperion

dunno, it's kinda neat, but it's not worth that much if the dollar gets boned during the freeing process.
I mean, it's extraordinarily little melt value.

Im not sure how much id pay for the curiosity.

53BKid

Keep it as is. All the coins are heavily cleaned.

ricko

Leave them as is.... they will only be further damaged in the removal process. Neat numismatic item - desk curio. Cheers, RickO

roadrunner

Once broken out, you might discover that the gold dollar is bent. That would drop it's value to jewelry status. Keep 'em sealed.

roadrunner

BAJJERFAN

Whats the melt value of Lucite?

itsnotjustme

Punch out the doughnut hole to remove the $1G, leave the doughnut intact with the small change.

fc

i did not expect to see gold inside there. any chance it is a fake?

plus, that could be harder to get into then many of us think?

i could just see myself with a large hammer pounding it and only
getting it to chip off.. never cracking in pieces...

BAJJERFAN

<< <i>Keep it as is. All the coins are heavily cleaned. >>


Of course you want to put nice clean coins in there; who would want a paperweight with junky ol cruddy coins in it.

keets

that's a cool item and i'd leave it intact. it may be one of the first attempts at slabbing, pre-ACG et al, and the inspiration for HRH.

NHSBaseball

How in the heck do you "crack" coins out of solid Lucite? I seriously want to know. Has anyone attempted this before?

fastrudy

It won't be an easy task. I think you would have to saw through it and then sand down the sawn edges until you free the coin. It was meant to be permanent

oxy8890

My Father worked with Lexan/Lucite at GE when I was a kid. He brought many items home from work in this compound Coins, Bugs, Electronics, curios etc. He always told me that he would take something to work for me and put it in Lucite. But he always reminded me "Remember once it is in we can never get it out without extensive damage." He basically said it would be ruined. So unless someone has come up with a removal process I would say you have a very cool item that should not be altered.

BAJJERFAN

I think the residues could be washed off with acetone. I'd saw around it and carefully chip off the excess with a SHARP chisel and mallet. Not worth the effort here IMO. I'd sell it on ebay or keep it as a curio.

jfoot13

save it for your 10K post giveaway or it would look really cool in the fishtank next to the little pirate ship , you could make 5 more and have an awsome coaster set... the possibilities are endless

Musky1011

Thanx for the cool giveaway

Broadstruck

Griv

I removed a British pound that was entombed and it was a bloody mess. There was no saving the coin as it adheres to the entire surface. Wicked stuff.

duck620

anyone have a hammer i can borrow?

Blackhawk

I know that it's possible, as I've personally seen the before and after with a coin that someone removed from such a paperweight. I'll see if I can find out what was used.

windwhispersintrees

Dynasolve 750 or 711 will dissolve lucite. Use band saw to cut out coin and majority of the lucite.

But, is it worth the time, effort, expense?

BlindedByEgo

Leave it. It's very

rah1959

Personally I think it is cool as it is...and would likely leave it...

However...I did buy a Morgan dollar in lucite at a yard sale last year for $5.....common date....circulated....after some research on how to get it out....i did the following......

I work at grocery store....took it and stored it in the coldest deep freeze we have......about 0° F....overnight...

next day...took it out and immediatey wrapped it in a towel, swung it over my head and down upon the concrete loading dock...it shattered like glass..the towel kept the pieces from becoming projectiles........the Morgan was free....no worse for wear.....brutal? perhaps....

BUT....I would not do it this way for anything of value....but what I did, did work. Soaked the morgan in acetone and stored it away in my growing hoard of silver.

BAJJERFAN

Go to the store an get sum dry ice.
Put it inna ol plastic bowl.
Carefully pour sum rubbin alcohol over it; use the 86% stuff and not the 70% stuff.
Put the lucite block inna plastic bag and immerse this in the dry ice-rubbin alcohol mix.
Keep it there fer a few minutes or until thoroughly cooled.
Take it out and whack it wif a mallet till it breaks up.
Get rid of the alcohol by either throwing it out on yer patio or just letting it sit outta reach a curious pinkies till it warms up.
Do not throw it down the drain as it may blowback in yer face.

foodude

Leave them as is.... they will only be further damaged in the removal process.

Not if done correctly.

Has anyone attempted this before?

Yes.


Soak it in Acetone. It will take a while (think a day or so, depending on how thick the encasing material is. A few "taps" (i.e., pounding is not necesssary*) in with a hammer may be useful, but not near the coins.

* Whenever removing a coin from a holder you should always be in control of the coin.

Batman23

<< <i>Punch out the doughnut hole to remove the $1G, leave the doughnut intact with the small change. >>



I like itsnotjustme's idea. Get a drill press with a hole saw. Cut out the Dollar center and remove most of the lucite excess. Remove the rest of the lucite with Acetone. You will have the gold and the paperweight. A win/win situation..... as long as you don't screw up the gold!

anablep

Leave it alone...

too many risks in harming the coins inside.

droopyd

<< <i>How in the heck do you "crack" coins out of solid Lucite? I seriously want to know. Has anyone attempted this before? >>



I tried once with a paperweight/egg timer with a 1923 Peace Dollar given away by a bank in the 1960s.... didn't make a dent in it!