Do you think these 2 pennies are just PMD?
Watchbelieve
Posts: 527 ✭✭✭
-1
Watchbelieve
Posts: 527 ✭✭✭
Comments
Yes.
I do!
Nailed it!
HAPPY COLLECTING
Back in the days when these two Lincoln Cents were minted, long before the days of today's ubiquitous cell phones, there were such things as telephone booths (remember them?), in which a telephone call could be placed for 10 cents, or one dime. Some nefarious individuals attempted to reduce both the thickness and the diameter of a one cent piece to that of a dime, thus receiving a telephone call valued at ten cents for just one cent. Of course, this places very little value on the crook's time to file down the cent piece. If you were to place these one cent pieces against a dime, you would see the similarities in diameter and thickness. The file marks are visible on the reverse of the 1961, and on the rims of both coins. A somewhat common, if ill-advised, practice.
sure look like Mint made to my eyes.
bob
I'll bet if you had a lathe and about a 10" file, you could do probably 25 at time in 10 min or less once you did a few rounds, and much better than the one above.
That's about all that is missing -- a nail through those things.
Both PMD.
Yes!
Mr. Halfdime... thank you. Very informative. I love learning the history behind the mystery.
Seriously?
On eBay? Priceless
List them as run over by a mint truck
BHNC #203
We used a paper clip to reach in the dime slot worked good. Then we learned if you talked loud in the ear piece you didn't need anything. That was when they allowed the call without the money being put in first as they do now.
We also used a pull tab off a can, the round part, and put electrical tape on it about 6 to 8 inches long and could use it as a quarter at the car wash - you could wash your car for a quarter back then.
"A dog breaks your heart only one time and that is when they pass on". Unknown
Definitely PMD... and likely for the reason described by MrHalfDime....Cheers, RickO
To add another element to the situation, the creator of these committed a felony. Altering a coin is not by itself illegal, but altering for fraudulent purposes is. Those are technically counterfeits as they were created to mimic a dime.
As I recall, a few years ago a presidential pardon was issued to a person who had a felony conviction on his record from many decades ago when as a young man he made something similar to work as a dime in a vending machine (his may have been made from cardboard).
I have one somewhere. Great mementos of an earlier time with a more basic vending machine technology.
And word had it that early 80s Coke machines would empty their coin return change if you kicked down hard on the coin return lever.
What some people will do to save 9 cents.
Those machines would also dispense product if you unplugged the power and had someone hold down on the selection button and plug it in and out pops your pop. Rumor has it you could also crawl under the fence at the local swimming pool and swim for free. We had what we thought was fun when doing a paper route at 3 to 6 am in the summer time. The golf course was great when you had it all to yourself as well.
"A dog breaks your heart only one time and that is when they pass on". Unknown
The minimum wage in 1960 was $1/hr or about $8/hr today.
For the youngsters out there - the savings is more like 72 cents in todays inflated money.
“In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." - Thomas Jefferson
My digital cameo album 1950-64 Cameos - take a look!
Pedigree of MR UGLY guys collection
aka mr negative points person
I do admit to filing cents down to dime size for ice creams not phone calls.
This was in the 1950's.
bob
You could also expose the wire from the phone and touch it
to the coin return and get a dial tone.
This I know to be true, but please don't ask me how I know. Before the days of the armored handset cables, you could stick a pin through the cable and then touch the pin to the coin return and receive a dial tone. Came in handy for arranging rides home ... or so I hear.