Anyone ever come across Morgan Dollar shiners?

anablep

Came across a Morgan Dollar shiner while Google searching for the fish by the same name for another project.

Apparently these were used as reflective surfaces to see dealt cards...

Anyone ever come across something like this in their collecting/searching ventures?




From this website: Frontier Gambling

Edited for fixing link, I think.....

ricko

Link does not work and I cannot interpret what is represented by the picture. I do know what a 'shiner' is....any established poker player knows...really not of any use in modern games though... Cheers, RickO

Justlooking

Link fixed? Hope so

That's cheating ...

anablep

I think the whole idea is to cheat with a stack of Morgan dollars back in the day by inserting a mirror into a hollowed out portion of the stack of dollars. They must be soldered together?

Are these rare, in the Morgan dollar interpretation of a "shiner?"

CaptHenway

Never heard of this.

291fifth

Sounds like a good way to end up with lead poisoning.

PerryHall

<< <i>Sounds like a good way to end up with lead poisoning. >>



.....or, at the very least, you could wind up with a shiner

sparky64

Pretty gutsy. I've never seen or heard of one using Morgans.

I've heard of dealers passing cards over a polished lighter or something similar to get a look.

Seems like the Morgan stack would be awkward to place down or pick up. Better be careful.

CaptHenway

Does it look as though the top coin in that "stack" is pivoted so that it can be swung back to expose the mirror inside?

ProofArtworkonCircs

I once used a shiny Morgan dollar as a mirror to focus the image of the sun onto a tree trunk. I did this so I could calculate the radius of curvature of the basining on the dollar. My only mistake ws not in writing this down. I think I got 26 inches or so for the radius but am not sure at all this point.

Warning! Young Numismatists. Memories fade.

OldEastside

Interesting

Steve