Double-headed and double-tailed coins found in rolls are very educational in teaching newcomers to the hobby just what they are not. They are made to fit into the "shell" of another Kennedy half-dollar for a magic trick or just sold as novelty items to flip for drinks or whatever. I have an article I wrote on these in 2003 here: http://koinpro.tripod.com/Articles/...dedCoins.htm This article links to one I wrote for Collectors Universe in 1999. That link is no longer valid, having been moved to here: http://www.pcgs.com/News/Two-headed...cky-For-Some
CCF has a youtube video that I think is great explaining how coins are lathed to fit within one another. I saw it once on TV and glad that CCF posted this.
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I have a couple with both halves of the concoction and some with just one half. Also, the half that inserts into Kennedy half dollars often shows a foreign coin machined to fit on the inside. About half of the so-called rotated reverse half-dollars that folks bring me end up having the foreign coin inside. You knock the coin on your knee while holding it with your index finger and thumb. For me it often takes repeaded attempts. I understand there is a gadget to help ease the halves apart but I can no longer find it or how the tricks works on the Internet. I'm sure somebody can find it.
These are made to fall apart for a magic trick where you turn a US half dollar into a British penny or a Mexican 20 centavos coin.
I also have a dime with a Greek (forget what) coin on the flip side that may have been for the same.
Quote: You knock the coin on your knee while holding it with your index finger and thumb. For me it often takes repeaded attempts.
I should think, especially for dissimilar-metal matches, that heating and cooling cycles would do it without outside assistance. They won't heat or cool at the same rate.
I have a magician's half dollar that came with a metal cylinder that's about a half inch tall. You set the coin on top of the cylinder and slam it onto a hard surface and the halves separate.
Yes, I bought it. When I was young I thought it was the coolest thing...
Well Mr. Potter, I must say that you have impeccable timing on your most recent thread!
As I just found this suspiciously underweight, rotated reverse half dollar this morning while going through a fresh box I got from my bank!
Being curious, I dropped it flat on my table and it sounded hollow. So I dropped it again, this time on the rim, and the coin fell apart into three separate pieces!!
The inside reverse is an obverse of a Mexican 20 Centavos?
I'm guessing that the two reverses are supposed to be glued together?
It does seem to be precision lathed and the pieces fit together perfectly.
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Posted 04/27/2015 4:11 pm
