This Was In My Late Dad's Coin Collection (Id: Likely 20th Century Australia Cent Love Token)

"If that were tooled then how could that remain there in the centre and yet the back is still relatively level."

Veronica, I think I know what you mean on the reverse. I see that on US cents as well as larger AUS pennies. I've heard it happens when they adjust the press for a worn die and some of the die pressure from the obverse transfers through to the reverse of the coin. Even if the reverse was polished some way, you may still see the ghost image because the metal hardness has been affected by the strike.

Have a look around here.
See if anything on Triton's page will help you to identify some of your coins.
Some of the coins are pretty common errors, like the diecrack on the threepence, looks like some diechips and diefills as well.
Have a look here as well, these are some of my items.
The albums are listed down the side of the page, hope this helps out a bit.
I'm sorry, but without clearer pics, I am having problems identifying some of the coins.
Eyes aren't what they used to be.
Good luck

What the dealer was referring to is called "trench art" - soldiers that whiled away the boring hours on duty or in the trenches by taking convenient objects (like coins, shell casings, ration tins etc) and making all kinds of widgets and artwork out of them. Not entirely unlike the "scrimshaw" artefacts of sailors in the age of sail.

The reverse of this coin has been completely filed away. I suspect the soldier (or whoever) was in the process of making this penny into what is known as a "love token" - a coin with one or both sides filed away, and their initials or some kind of inscription of love and devotion carved into the blank side. The love token would then be sent back to their wife/girlfriend/mother/etc as a memento of their young man on the front lines. If so, this penny was either rejected by the person who made it, they were interrupted before they could finish it, or maybe it originally did have someone's name carved there, and the recipient (for whatever reason) filed the name off again.

Unfortunately, we'll never know for sure, because this piece has become detached from it's "story". Trench art and love tokens are popular with some collectors, especially where the stories behind their making are known. Other collectors would simply see it as a "ruined coin".


This effect is known as ghosting, and is commonly seen on coins that are relatively large and thin, with high relief designs. Predecimal pennies of Britain and Australia were especially prone to it. It's not normally considered a "mint error", as it's cause is more a systematic failure in the ability to design a coin properly, rather than a temporary flaw or aberration in the production process. Only very severely ghosted coins tend to attract any premium, and in some cases it's the coins that don't show any trace of ghosting that attract a premium.

Hello. Here is a slideshow with lots of pictures that seem clearer. Veronica

[URL="http://s289.photobucket.com/albums/ll232/1dolly_pics/?action=view¤t=643a7952.pbw][/URL]