Just got photos of my new "PIE CUTTER" Large Cent!
ThePennyLady
Posts: 4,485 ✭✭✭✭✭
I picked this up from Ron Sirna at Long Beach so I just had to have Todd photograph this unique "coin" for me. I don't have the handle that was needed to use this to cut the pastry, but here is an example of what one would have looked like: Pie Cutter
Anyone seen or have any of these?
Anyone seen or have any of these?
10
Comments
<< <i>That must have taken a while to make. >>
This was back when time was much more available than money (for example, my father used to whittle pliers out of wood, for fun). When I was a kid on the farm we would spend hours making something that we could buy for a few $ if we had more money. So as I got older I accumulated tools to make almost anything I wanted (including a pretty good machine shop). Now I find that I have much more money than time....
There are also coins like this with two holes in the middle, like a button would have, but with the same serrated/scalloped edge. I've read that these were "buzzers", a child's toy that was designed to twirl around with the string held in two hands, creating a buzzing sound.
As a detectorist, I've heard of quite a few lucky diggers finding these on 19th century and colonial sites (with the colonial ones being made from King George coppers).
Naturally, as a holey coin guy like the previous respondent, I've come across them periodically in my search for interesting holeys.
Cool piece.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
<< <i>Hypothetically, would PCGS slab these in their genuine holders? Not that anyone would bother to do so. All are neat pieces of early americana. >>
I would think so--giving new meaning to the word "tooled"--these cents were made into tools. --Jerry
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
<< <i>I don't think PCGS would holder it with the hole. >>
They holder holed coins and the defect listed on the label but without a grade.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
<< <i>I know holed coins that have been plugged are now holdered (they weren't at the beginning of the program), but thought that a holed coin, or one with other large scale mutilation, was still not going to be holdered. >>
I imagine all grading services reserve the right to reject any coin for any reason. I certainly can't blame them for having this policy.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
By the way HoledandCreative, those are some really need pie cutters too!
The Penny Lady®
1845 Large Cent
1840's Large Cent
1840's Campaign Token
QN
Go to Early United States Coins - to order the New "Early United States Half Dollar Vol. 1 / 1794-1807" book or the 1st new Bust Quarter book!
The Penny Lady®
They were pie crimpers, as the pictures by Quarternut shows.
Ray
<< <i>I've never heard them call pie cutters.
They were pie crimpers, as the pictures by Quarternut shows.
Ray >>
Yes, you're right, it is technically more accurate that it was actually used to crimp the pie, but the only name(s) I've heard them called is "pie cutter" or "pastry cutter." Perhaps the word "crimper" wasn't used so much back then.
The Penny Lady®
I have a couple of those also,thought I was the only one who thought they were cool.
<< <i>I have a couple of those also,thought I was the only one who thought they were cool.
Is the first one you posted here in a certified holder?
The Penny Lady®
A really cool piece - and something that a "Penny Lady" should certainly have!
“It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.” Mark Twain
Newmismatist
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
<< <i>Why get them into a holder? To have an "everymans pie crimping set" in the registry?----------------------------------------BigE >>
I don't think that having a registry set is the ONLY reason people like certified coins. For me, my personal collection coins are certified and I keep them in plastic certified coin pages in notebooks so it just makes it easier for storage and display purposes to have even all my coins in certified holders.
The Penny Lady®
<< <i>
Funny, it never dawned on me that they could have also been used as spur rowels. But it makes sense. Some seem afwfully sharp for pie crust tools.
@ThePennyLady
the images of your tiny silver tea kettles are still fresh in my mind and the cookie cutter is adorable!
Thank you Paradise, you're always so kind!
Coinrunner, Althought I focus on penny pie cutter/pastry crimpers and they are definitely more prevalent than higher denominations for practiality and economic purposes, I haven't come across many in other denominations so yours is probably pretty scarce. The price is hard to say, I would guess yours is worth in the range of $200-$300. But the value of these unusual types of numismatics usually depends on whether there are a lot of other folks who are hunting for them as well. Hope this helps.
The Penny Lady®
@Coinrunner1.... Welcome aboard and that is a nice item..... unique in that it is not the typical cent used. Cheers, RickO
Very COOL. I've only seen a few.
I'd love to see a Chain Cent version!!! (actually, I really wouldn't)
Dave
@ThePennyLady
This thread is nine years old, so the questions did you use your pie cutter to cut and crimp a pie crust and did it work?
Great coins here! I'm a huge fan of these and it's amazing to think about how people lived in the past.
Do we know if people made these at home themselves or were the stores making and selling these?
Since these were done intentionally, I wonder if PCGS could straight grade them at some point as a "pie cutter" coin, similar to "chop mark" coins.