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 Replies: 34 / Views: 11,867 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5362 Posts |
Last night I spotted an odd looking French Coin on ebay. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...220740578156I made a copy of the picture so that it will be visible after the auction comes down.  My question is what is your guess as to what caused this? The coin is 2 grams underweight and does not ring. Is it a forgery as the owner suspects? Edited by swamperbob
02/23/2011 10:12 am
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Valued Member
Guatemala
357 Posts |
Looks like it's a variation on the old magic coin thing, only there's no attempt to marry two different coins, but rather possibly a hiding place once Napoleon III's bust is removed.
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Moderator
 Australia
16806 Posts |
Agreed - it's definitely been made from two different coins; the bust and denticle rings don't line up where they overlap the central cut-out ring.
One could speculate as to "why". Maybe it's a "spy coin" for holding secret instructions. Maybe it's trench-art made by a bored soldier during the Franco-Prussian war. Maybe it's simply an attempt to make a locket.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
2830 Posts |
if it weremine, I'd attempt to open it, by applying force at 2 o'clock on the obverse.
et voila ! a two-gram space, I suspect.
Peter
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
5362 Posts |
I really like the guesses and I tend to concur. I really thought it was a locket that originally could pivot around the hinge located at 2 o'clock. There appears to be evidence of the insertion of a short bar into each side of the coin at the hinge (the surface of the reverse humps up.
I should find out shortly because I bought it on a lark.
I will let you know if I can open it.
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New Member
Spain
40 Posts |
Hello
I'm not sure, but maybe it is a box, small box for a gold coin.
This was normal in their time to hide gold coins.
Of course, I'm not sure for this piece. I need open the box....
Regards Joan
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Pillar of the Community
Luxembourg
588 Posts |
Congratulations for that great find!
It definitely is a box.
I have never held such a thing in hand but I have already heard of their existence.
There are also boxes that were made of the early décime coins.
They have been used to hold 20 francs gold coins.
I have even read about someone picking up such a coin in a junk box and it still contained a gold coin.
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Pillar of the Community
Luxembourg
588 Posts |
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Rest in Peace
United States
9104 Posts |
Definitely tooled as opposed to fake, and as such, prolly a decent buy.
One of my customers had a US $20 with a watch inside. Much better workmanship, almost impossible to detect.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5362 Posts |
I already own several different "hollow" coins made for various reasons - they are interesting and represent a lot of work in some cases. When I was about 10 I saw my first a 1797 Two Pence that was threaded and had a hollow spot to conceal? I only discovered a second copy of the identical type within the past 2 years. Later when I worked in Boston in the 1970's I picked up a hollowed out US Trade dollar that was most probably a locket. More recently, I have picked up many different instances of "mined" coins where silver was extracted for the purposes of fraud. These uniformly are permanently sealed and the hollow area is filled with an off metal plug. Consistent throughout the type is the excessive amount of skilled labor needed to undertake the work. Just the number of hours warrants the purchase price in my opinion. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5362 Posts |
The coin has arrived - it is as suspected a hollow coin. The hinge and door work very well. The door was hinged by cutting the edge to side in a pin. The door rotates around the pin.  |
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Pillar of the Community
Mexico
1304 Posts |
Nice coin! (Or, better yet, should that be counted as two coins?)
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2669 Posts |
That's *really* cool.. have seen only one or two like that and never in person. What would you be able to fit in the cavity?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5362 Posts |
xshift Actually there is some space between the cover and the base - you can depress the cover a bit. So I would suspect you could fit a small gold coin in there or a picture or any small folded paper.
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Valued Member
United States
117 Posts |
Fascinating. I wonder how they cut underneath the door bit.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5362 Posts |
Uhhhh The piece is made from two different coins. The first coin is drilled out and the second is cut down. The two pieces are assembled together to make the pocket coin.
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Replies: 34 / Views: 11,867 |
Posted 02/23/2011 5:34 pm
