What is the most esoteric thing you know about coins?

TopographicOceans

What could you tell a numismatist where they would say "Gee, I didn't know that?"

I'll start with
Large cents were dated every year from 1793 to 1857 - with the exception of 1815 due to a copper shortage.

MWallace

On the Kennedy Half Dollar, the outer clad layers make up one-third of the planchet's thickness, with the copper core making up the other two-thirds. On the Anthony Dollar the outer layers make up one-half of the planchet's thickness with the copper core making up the other half. This was done to make it impossible to grind down a Kennedy Half Dollar to the size of an Anthony Dollar for use in vending machines.

stash

That John Wexler was diagnosed with Parkinson's . Keep him in your prayers .....

ProofArtworkonCircs

That ancient Greeks buried their dead with a coin in the mouth to pay the ferryman to Hades.



WAIT! No big deal, that is how they carried their coins when alive.

joeykoins

How 'bout, that there are "Silver" 1965 Quarters somewhere in circulation?

cladking

Coins may have "heads" and "tails" because Greek children many centuries ago played flipping games with nummolites, fossilized sea shells with ventral and dorsal sides.



The ventral side was often painted to make them more easily distinguishable.



These fossils make up a large percentage of the weight of the Great Pyramid making it the largest coin collection of all time. And these fossils may be mostly dorsal side up.

Stooge

Originally posted by: MWallace
On the Kennedy Half Dollar, the outer clad layers make up one-third of the planchet's thickness, with the copper core making up the other two-thirds. On the Anthony Dollar the outer layers make up one-half of the planchet's thickness with the copper core making up the other half. This was done to make it impossible to grind down a Kennedy Half Dollar to the size of an Anthony Dollar for use in vending machines.

I'll start...."Gee, I didn't know that" Very informative info!

TigersFan2

That about 25 years ago when my parents had a basset hound, they would regularly go out in the backyard and find coins in its poop.

DennisH

Over at the Society of Silver Dollar Collectors (SSDC), the Registry Set for 1921-P Morgan dollars consists of 391 different VAMs.

Barndog

most people consider almost all of my knowledge about Capped Bust Half Dimes to be "esoteric"

GotTheBug

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coindeuce

All of our modern coin denominations begin the production process as 15,000 linear foot coils of sheet metal. Circulation coinage produced at Philadelphia are struck on horizontal presses, unlike the conventional vertical presses used in earlier technology. Read about it here - very comprehensive description:



How the Mint makes coins for circulation.

Athena

That's not a man on Barber coinage!

PRECIOUSMENTAL

Only three commemorative quarters have been issued by the U.S. Mint. They are the 1893 Isabella quarter, the 1932 Washington Head quarter, and the Bicentennial 1776-1976 quarter.

ProofArtworkonCircs

How about the quarters starting in 1999 - state, territories, ATB?

baddogss

edge lettering and other decorative devices used to be applied by a Castaing machine

baddogss

Originally posted by: DennisH

Over at the Society of Silver Dollar Collectors (SSDC), the Registry Set for 1921-P Morgan dollars consists of 391 different VAMs.

and I thought I was nuts ... that's crazy.

MarkInDavis

The 1937 Walking Liberty Half has a different pattern of rays around the sun than any other year.

illini420

By order of the Governor, 500 examples of the 1946 Iowa Centennial classic commemorative half dollars were set aside for the State's 150th anniversary (1996) and another 500 examples for the State's 200th anniversary. The 500 coins set aside for the 150th anniversary were placed into special holders and were sold at $500 each starting in 1992. Since the final 500 Iowa Centennial half dollars will not be distributed until 2046, the distribution of the coins has technically not yet been completed.

AUandAG

So important was the weight of silver dollars that the Mint hired women to "adjust" the blanks to be the proper weight. The silver content as a percentage had to me almost exact on all silver coinage.



bob

BackroadJunkie

Originally posted by: TigersFan2
That about 25 years ago when my parents had a basset hound, they would regularly go out in the backyard and find coins in its poop.

Winner! The story would be even better if the dog never ate any coinage to start with!



Think about this the next time you ask yourself, "If only this coin could talk..."

Overdate

Most 1960-D small date cents were released into circulation, and could be easily found in change or bank rolls throughout the early 1960s. Circulated rolls are readily available.

The 1960-D small over large date cent (my avatar) was also released into circulation, and many circulated examples exist. (I once owned an entire circulated roll.)

By contrast, virtually all of the 1960 Philadelphia small date cents were captured by knowledgeable collectors, investors and speculators before reaching circulation. To this day, circulated examples are very uncommon, and circulated rolls are unheard of.

cladking

Back in 1961 some people were excited by the fact that the date could be read right side up or upside down.



Some people are easily excited.

TigersFan2

Originally posted by: BackroadJunkie

Originally posted by: TigersFan2
That about 25 years ago when my parents had a basset hound, they would regularly go out in the backyard and find coins in its poop.

Winner! The story would be even better if the dog never ate any coinage to start with!

Think about this the next time you ask yourself, "If only this coin could talk..."

And those coins are likely in circulation somewhere. Be careful with every coin in your pocket because you don't know where it's been.

Coinosaurus

The leftover strip after punching out blank planchets is called "schissel."

Justacommeman

I didn't have two nickels to rub together until I was 35



mark

zippcity

Was cruising the channels on TV last night and stopped to watch the coin dude for a few minutes (you know which one) and he stated that the US Mint used SILVER shovels to shovel Morgan silver dollars into canvas bags. True/false, anybody have any info about this. I can't find anything as of yet to confirm or deny.

PerryHall

Originally posted by: AUandAG

So important was the weight of silver dollars that the Mint hired women to "adjust" the blanks to be the proper weight. The silver content as a percentage had to me almost exact on all silver coinage.



bob

.....and when some of the early silver dollar planchets were underweight, the mint would punch a hole through the planchet and insert a silver plug to bring the weight up to specifications prior to striking the coin. Seems rather labor intensive for a single coin. Did any other country ever do this?

PerryHall

Originally posted by: zippcity

Was cruising the channels on TV last night and stopped to watch the coin dude for a few minutes (you know which one) and he stated that the US Mint used SILVER shovels to shovel Morgan silver dollars into canvas bags. True/false, anybody have any info about this. I can't find anything as of yet to confirm or deny.

Sounds like total nonsense. They used regular coal shovels and they certainly didn't care about damaging the silver dollars.

astrorat

Originally posted by: BackroadJunkie

Originally posted by: TigersFan2
That about 25 years ago when my parents had a basset hound, they would regularly go out in the backyard and find coins in its poop.

Winner! The story would be even better if the dog never ate any coinage to start with!



Think about this the next time you ask yourself, "If only this coin could talk..."

It would need a breath mint!

TwoSides2aCoin

Modern coins don't just bore cronies, they incite them, too.

BIGAL2749

Originally posted by: PerryHall

Originally posted by: AUandAG
So important was the weight of silver dollars that the Mint hired women to "adjust" the blanks to be the proper weight. The silver content as a percentage had to me almost exact on all silver coinage.

bob

.....and when some of the early silver dollar planchets were underweight, the mint would punch a hole through the planchet and insert a silver plug to bring the weight up to specifications prior to striking the coin. Seems rather labor intensive for a single coin. Did any other country ever do this?

In fact yes, in researching plug dollars and halves I discovered that it was a practice in some Latin American countries prior to 1794.
Perhaps due to their cheap labor. ***

cladking

Back in the early '90's if you stacked all the quarters from circulation it would get shorter at the rate of about a yard per minute due to wear (IMS).



A roll of of heavily worn clad at that time was about five coins shorter than a new BU roll.



Little has changed except the stack is twice as high and the roll slightly shorter.

lkeigwin

John Reich, assistant engraver responsible for some major designs and types, used a special punch for the 13th star on the obverse of Capped Bust Half Dollars. The punch had a notch in one of its points and was used on each working die as a kind of signature.



After 10 years with no promotion or pay raise Reich resigned in 1817.

Lance.

LanceNewmanOCC

Originally posted by: Coinosaurus

The leftover strip after punching out blank planchets is called "schissel."

saw one at potter's booth in livonia saturday.



a nice display of various dies, with various issues, along with a broken collar was on display and i got to put my grubby fingers all over em.



the collar was friggin' huge. guess it makes sense, since it has to contain a lot of horizontal pressure from the flan edge.

.

LanceNewmanOCC

Originally posted by: Overdate

By contrast, virtually all of the 1960 Philadelphia small date cents were captured by knowledgeable collectors, investors and speculators before reaching circulation. To this day, circulated examples are very uncommon, and circulated rolls are unheard of.

interesting now you mentiom it. ive seen tons of brown sd 60p 1c but they were either high au/slider or low unc.



and all you said above that is in-line with what ive observed.





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cmerlo1

Lincoln's head was made visibly smaller on the Lincoln cent in 1969.

ProofArtworkonCircs

I used to think (until 1972) that significant die varieties did not exist in USA coinage. Now I can separate circulation strike 1964 quarters into 3 piles by touch alone. (Some are scarce though).



I can do the same thing with 1969 D or 1970 D quarters.

ProofArtworkonCircs

Speaking of secret marks as an autograph of the die makers - consider John Sinnock's Washington quarter reverse. This was an era when no touchup was allowed in die preparation. Sinnock did not agree. In the center of the bundle of arrows by the eagle's claws are an "X" shape of ribbons tying the arrows together. The right side of these ribbons were touched up by incuse marks. Nothing else on the coin looked that way. Non of the non - Sinnock quarters (1965-1998) ever had them.

The quarter came out in 1932 and this version was used thru the date freeze of 1964+. In 1937 Sinnock took a type A hub of this quarter and carved the field away to create the master hub of the proof style type B used 1937 through 1964. It had the same incuse marks.

In 1968 a master die type B had tailfeather centerlines (in relief on the finished coin) to match the other clad quarters s of the period. Thus we have type H used 1968-1972. These too, had the incuse marks. The type A, B and H triad thus becomes the longest running quarter reverse 1932-1972 although skipping 1965-1967.


edit: Corrrected some mistakes in the dates.j

DollarAfterDollar

Frank Sinatra carried a roll of dimes everywhere he went until his death. His reasoning was that when his son was kidnapped he was scared to death that he'd run out of dimes communicating with the kidnappers and vowed that would never happen again!!