Hand Cut Coins For Change US & Spanish ?

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Author	Replies: 6 / Views: 7,785
mds308 Pillar of the Community United States 1721 Posts	Posted 11/22/2012 3:56 pm This was in response to an earlier post asking why someone would cut a coin in half. I almost forgot, HAPPY THANKSGIVING everybody. https://goccf.com/t/134398 Like I said in the other post, this is how change was made when there was no other way. A dime cut in half was still accepted for 5 cents. Silver is/was silver no matter what it looks like. Below are images of these cut coins I discovered with my metal detector. All these were found between 1989 and 1999 in Portsmouth, Virginia and one piece from Williamsburg, Virginia which had the remainder of the date 1721. I believe these are from Spanish 2 Reale coins. The halved Seated dime was dug too. Edited by mds308 11/22/2012 4:04 pm Report this Post to the Staff

Bryan1315 Bedrock of the Community United States 14454 Posts	Posted 11/22/2012 4:18 pm I will agree the pieces of 8 and other Spanish coins were cut in this way but I have never heard,read nor seen of any of the US coinage like you have posted being done this way. When the US coins were made they weren't made by weight per say, they were made by denomination so I would suspect this was just done just because, not to make change but what do I know Report this Post to the Staff
mds308 Pillar of the Community United States 1721 Posts	Posted 11/22/2012 4:31 pm I'll buy that. The Seated Liberty may just be mutilation without purpose. Maybe someone else can should more light. Report this Post to the Staff
harrison2 Pillar of the Community Mexico 1304 Posts	Posted 11/22/2012 6:32 pm I can imagine that the dime was cut for change. The fact that it was dug and the age of the damage to the sufeaces leads me to believe that damage is contemporary. The break shows that someone used a chisel to cut it, flip it, cut it again and flip it until it could be broken. Based on the value of a coin like that in that era, I can't imagine some kid getting into his dad's tool shed and busting up coins for the fun of it like some people do today. Report this Post to the Staff
Ben Pillar of the Community United Kingdom 4208 Posts	Posted 11/24/2012 08:43 am Yeah, the spanish ones are obviously cut carefully and deliberately - I dontknow into which denomination, but thats a consistently made cut. The american one...well, if it didnt have that second gash, Id say it was down my a plow, but I think someone did that for no reason (I also think contemporary). Report this Post to the Staff
trdhrdr007 Pillar of the Community United States 2335 Posts	Posted 11/24/2012 10:08 am Here's an interesting tidbit I heard that may or may not be true. When dollar size coins were being cut up for change it was common for them to be cut into 1/2's, 1/4's & 1/8's. There were people who would cut the coins into 5 "1/4's", or 9 "1/8's", making that much more out of their coin. Report this Post to the Staff
mds308 Pillar of the Community United States 1721 Posts	Posted 11/24/2012 6:12 pm Necessity is the mother of invention or in this case mother of fractionalization. Report this Post to the Staff
	Replies: 6 / Views: 7,785

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