Contest - Win Morgan $ - Ancient - Bag Of Tokens - Bag Of World - US Commem

Well, here is my second choice entry since there remains controversy over my first choice presentation. This will hopefully be one of many "Tutorials" to come. Similar to "Coin IDing for Dummies", at least the in the same format, this delves a bit deeper into the error identification field of "Dude, You do NOT have the next Coin Lotto winner!" and other related topics...here we go:

Die Deterioration Doubling and VLDS Effects





Once the coin die reaches it's normal limit of use, there are many strange effects that happen. A normal die, over it's life of service has certain "maintenance needs". Die clashes leave marks, scratches across the face of the die from mechanical or human mix-ups, stamping the various pieces of crud that is the product of machining, all cause damage to the die. A thorough cleaning and polishing is done at regular levels to maintain a high standard of quality product. This is the reason some errors seem to disappear as the dies age, clash marks are removes, die gouges flattened out, dings polished flat. At times, this polishing can be quite vigorous, leaving heavy scratch marks, the polishing line are deep into the die, other times the diamond compound used isn't completely wiped off, and gets stuck in the incuse details of the die. Remember, everything is reversed, what is raised on the coin is indented(incused) into the die.At any time in a dies life, a failure can occur, a shattered die, damaged from a collar failure or a feeding/ejecting failure where the mechanisms are struck without a coin in place or a machine piece in the way. All these may cause damages too great to be repaired and the die is then "retired" to be destroyed later. It is the individual Branch Mints to maintain their issued working dies, which are many. But they do try to extend the life as much as possible.

Here in these following examples are a 1962P cent, found in a roll of BU brothers, this one must have been adopted and made an ender, the others were much nicer. This poor cent has one thing after another show up on it. It is one of the most advanced cases I have come across to document. If there was a class further than VLDS (Very Late Die State) this coin would be it!



Notice the outward stretching on these letters. The thicker tops and loss of shape. On the LIBERTY the L is actually moved onto the rim offset area of the die. Because of the movement of metal flow, the dies will become larger around and have to be milled down to hit into the holders. Hence design element "march" outwards until they fall off the die!



In the previous picture note in BLUE the "flow lines" of metal movement. YELLOW shows a dimpling effect where metal movement inside the devices is showing separation and die stress. RED is getting the "L" outta here! Note how they left a bit extending into the rim offset area of the die to try to preserve the L before completely polishing it away. (Mirror image, remember) This next picture shows a very beat up Abe. Polishing has dipped into the bust cavity and the polishing debris has further filled in any detail. This has removed much of the facial features. Then, as if things just weren't bad enough, his outline is attacked by a bad case of the shearing effects of massive DDD( Die Deterioration Doubling)!



The final insult though is when those absolutlely criminal and terrible Mint technicians even tried to strip his clothes off! We even must say goodbye to whoever it was that designed this wonderful image! Notice the way over-polishing of the elements. Absolutely disgusting, all this just to save a few Jbucks!




ENDVS FINI KAPVT

All of these entries are great reading.

Bit of a personal logjam here, just can't find an hour or two to craft a good story. Trying to get my wife out the door for a new job in London, no kidding.

Interesting contest, congratulations on 10,000 posts!

I've never actually written a numismatic article before but I'll give it a shot since I finished working on a materials coin set that I was putting together for a long time earlier this year and I think that I may actually know enough about this subject at this point in time to write something worthwhile.

Please let me know what you guys think but keep in mind that my knowledge is still evolving on this subject, so if you feel like something is missing or doesn't belong please let me know. Also, please let me know if you have any questions for me. Thanks.

PS: Sorry if it comes off as long winded, I tried to keep it as short as possible (this is just kind of a glossing over of the topic) but there is just a lot of information.

Materials used in circulating coins/tokens:

To my knowledge there are 28 different materials that were used in circulating coins throughout world history. For the purpose of this article a circulating coin would be any coin or token that was designed to actually be circulated at face value.

The materials include: aluminum, antimony, arsenic (copper bell arsenic), bamboo, bone, chrome, clay, coal(carbon), copper, fibre, glass, gold, iron, ivory plastic, lacquered pressed cardboard (struck paper Notgeld), lead, leather, magnesium, manganese, nickel, palladium, platinum, ruthenium, silver, tin, zinc, vulcanite (vulcanized black rubber), and wood.

These materials were used for a variety of reasons including: due to their inherent intrinsic value, due to their strength, due to their convenience to the producer, out of necessity, for promotion of the material itself, and simply for aesthetic reasons.

Below is a set of examples that I put together that are made of or at least contain each of the materials listed above:















So, let's take a look at each of the items in this set and examine why each material was most likely used.

Arsenic:

Arsenic was only used in coinage in large concentrations (up to 30 percent arsenic) in ancient India, where it was alloyed with copper to make arsenic bronze. This was done entirely for aesthetic reasons since when you alloy enough arsenic with copper it will produce a silvery sheen on the surface of the copper coin. Please note: metallic arsenic is extremely toxic but supposedly arsenic bronze is stable and is not toxic to the touch but I've not confirmed that. So this is not a coin that I am willing to touch with my bare hands.

Glass:

I have come across records of glass being use as a few instances as token currency throughout world history but the most common use by far was as Tesserae (tokens) in ancient Roman Egypt. I would assume that glass was the chosen material for purely aesthetic reasons since there were also many clay tesserae used during the same time period that would have been cheaper and easier to produce than glass. In regards to this particular piece I really like the yellow glass accent on the reverse of the token that can be seen through the green glass on the obverse. This could be just an artistic flare or it could be a very early attempt at counterfeiting prevention.

Leather:

Leather is a cheap material that literally grows on cows and has been used as currency a handful of times and seems for the most part to be used for necessity/emergency coinage during times of economic hardship.

Nickel:

Nickel is a hard silvery metal that wears well and has been used for a large variety of coins worldwide. So, nickel was used because of its strength and durability. Note: Pure Nickel is magnetic.

Chrome:

Chrome is a hard and brittle silvery metal that was used on a hand full of occasions to plate steel coins and mixed with steel to make stainless steel to increase its corrosion resistance. So, chrome was used because of its strength and its corrosion resistance.

Bamboo:

Bamboo is the largest species of grass and is a cheap material that literally grows out of the ground at a very fast pace. Bamboo "tallies" were used as tokens in China as a means of making coins more convenient. So, instead of carrying around a pocket full of heavy coins you could carry a few light weight bamboo tallies.

Antimony:

Antimony was only used in coinage at one time in world history in the Chinese province of Kweichow. It was used out of convenience since Kweichow was the epicenter of antimony mining in China at the time. The reason that it was never used again was that antimony is relatively soft and brittle and just doesn't wear well. Please note: antimony is in the arsenic group of metals and is considered rather toxic. So, one should wash their hands after touching it.

Aluminum:

Aluminum is a cheap light weight silvery metal that is considered to be one of the most abundant metals in the earth's crust and has been used for many coins and tokens throughout relatively modern world history. So, aluminum was used due to its convenience and low cost.

Red Fibre:

I have found a mentioning that in this instance that red fibre is actually magnesium oxide but I have yet to confirm this. Red fibre was used during WWII by the Japanese in China out of necessity due to aluminum being needed for the war effort. Note: if these coins are indeed magnesium oxide they are extremely flammable and cannot be put out once ignited since the combustion reaction produces its own oxygen. Magnesium oxide is the same compound that storm proof matches are made out of.

Cardboard:

Cardboard is a cheap material made from wood pulp and was used for coinage a few times throughout history and was always used as necessity coinage during times of economic hardship due to it's lack of durability.

Iron:

Iron was used at many different points throughout history for coinage but tended to be mainly used during times of war or economic hardship since it was cheap and easy to produce. So, it was used for convenience and low cost.

Coal:

Coal (compressed coal dust) was used only once as coinage during the German inflationary period after WWI. The producing entity C. Conradty was a semiconductor manufacture. So, they just used what was convenient and what was already on hand at the factory. So these coal coins were not only made for necessity but the material was chosen for convenience as well. Note: These became so worthless as the German Hyperinflation continued that many of them were burn for fuel.

Copper:

Copper is a versatile red metal that has had intrinsic value tied to it since antiquity and has been used in all types of coins and token for millennia.

Bone:

Bone was used by a few British military merchants in the late 19th century and was most likely used for aesthetic reasons.

Clay:

Clay/porcelain was used for coins by the Japanese at the end of WWII but supposedly only circulated for a few days right before end of the war. Clay was used for necessity due to the fact that all other metals were committed to the war effort.

Ivory Plastic:

Ivory Plastic was used as a token coinage for the Keeling Cocos Islands in the early 1900's. I would assume that this early plastic was used due to the fact that these were more or less plantation tokens and the issuer did not want his employees spending their earnings elsewhere. So, in my opinion this material seems to be chosen out of greed and for aesthetic reasons.

Lead:

Lead is a soft silvery blue metal that was used from time to time for token and coins throughout history even though it does not wear well. It tends to be used for either really low value coins or during times of economic hardship. So, this was most likely a material of convenience and low cost.

Gold:

Gold is a versatile soft yellow metal that has had intrinsic value associated with it since antiquity and has been used for coinage for millennia.

Silver:

Silver is a versatile silvery metal that has had intrinsic value associated with it since antiquity and has been used for coinage for millennia.

Magnesium:

Magnesium has been used in coinage on a few occasions but the most prolific use was in the Lodz Ghetto in the early 1940s in Poland. These token coins were made of magnalium alloy which is a mixture of aluminum and magnesium. This material was used for its convenience since the magnalium that was used came from a downed German aircraft that was salvaged from the eastern front so it was the only metal available at the time. Note: Magnalium is extremely flammable and most of the tokens were used as fire starters to start fires for warmth in the Lodz ghetto. Magnalium is still used today to make the crackling sound that you hear in modern fireworks.

Tin:

Tin is a soft silvery metal that has been used since antiquity. Tin has been used in various coins and tokens throughout history. In this case it was used for its convenience due to proximity to local tin mines.

Platinum:

Platinum is a rare relatively hard silvery metal with substantial intrinsic value tied to it that doesn't really tarnish/corrode and was first discovered in quantity in the early 1800s in Russia. So, in this instance platinum was used for both convenience and for intrinsic value.

Palladium/Ruthenium:

Palladium and Ruthenium are rare hard silvery metals and were only used for circulating coins once in world history. This was in the Kingdom of Tonga in 1967. The 1967 Tongan coronation set circulated for at least 2 years or so in the country of Tonga. The set was 1/4, 1/2, and one Hau. One Hau was worth 100 pa'anga. The pa'anga was pegged to the Australian dollar in 1967 which was worth $1.12 USD at the time. So one Hau had a face value of 112 USD in 1967. I included a 1/4 Hau which had a face value of 28 USD at the time. Palladium was only worth about 50 USD an ounce at the time. The coins in that set just had a really high face value. So, this material seems that it was used simply for the purposes of showing off in that Tonga would have had to buy the palladium from Russia at the time and they seem to have made these coins just because they could.

Zinc:

Zinc is a cheap silvery metal that has been used for many low value coins throughout relatively modern history. In this instance it was most likely used for its convenience and low cost.

Vulcanite (Vulcanized Rubber):

Vulcanite was used for various tokens throughout the second half of the 19th century and the early 20th century. In this instance is seems to have been used solely for marketing purposes of promoting the material itself.

Wood:

Wood is a cheap material that literally grows out of the ground. In this instance is was used for necessity since in early 1933 there was a bank holiday declared and people needed to find a way to make change. So wooden money appeared all over the United States.

Manganese:

Manganese was used as an additive to alloys for coinage a few times throughout history. The most prolific instance was the United States WWII silver nickels. Manganese was added out of necessity since by adding manganese to silver and copper it mimicked the electrical properties of the prewar nickels. This allowed the new silver nickels to be used in payphones and vending machines without any alterations to the machines.

Ok, that was my brief description of the 28 materials used in circulating coins throughout world history. If you have any questions or would like any additional information please let me know. Thanks for reading.

Great postings everyone!

Nice job casual. Might I suggest making that a .pdf and having it added to the tutorial manuals section. I understand you mention your post is an overview, so if there is more to add perhaps a more detailed manual. I found it a very interesting posting.

Very nice job @ccc!

To start with I'm not a writer in any way.

I started to collect coins for 3 kids from circulation in the late 90's. But then thought what about my 5 grandkids, so I started 5 more sets of Canadian and US coins ( I live on the US boarder )that my big hands could get a hold of. Then my oldest got remarried and I had to do 2 more sets.

With all that roll hunting I got a lot of world coins, so I started the Dark Side with my wife. With both of us being born in England we had a few British coins.

About 2 years ago I found out about a British set that when put together they made a pattern of the Royal Coat of Arms, thought that's cool I'm going to do that. So I got most from a CCF member in a trade from Australia and the last one I got in a trade with a CCF member in the Untied Kingdom.

So these are the coins,







When put together they look like the shield on the 1 Pound coin.


The set together


Had to put them on display, so I got a floating frame,


Thanks for reading.