Seated Half Dollar "Potty" ????

[Old Pueblo]

What in the world is this? I was browsing through TT and saw a couple of these "Potty" coins.

Is this just amateur engraving?

 

ICG Slab "Half Dollar 1858O ICG 8 Potty"

 

 

Curious

 

 

OP

[TomB]

These are quite popular and were obviously produced after they left the Mint. Many times one will find "potty" Trade or Seated dollars instead of half dollars.

[mkman123]

That one is pretty well done!

[James_OldeTowne]

I just saw a "potty dime" recently.

[Nutmeg Coin]

Disgusting! Deep prole culture.

[BillJones]

That one is a good deal more graphic than the others I have seen. I've seen these most often on Trade Dollars perhaps because those coins lost their legal tender status and were not worth a dollar back at the time this sort of thing was done.

[mtnstyne]

I have seen these quite often and they seem to get a premium which just baffles me. For all anyone knows I am buying these at melt and carving them in my garage on the weekend.

[newprepper]

I saw 1 or 2 on teletrade tonight

[Walkerfan]

I've never seen these before and never knew they existed. This one IS graphic, which I find humorous and YES how can one know they are 'authentic' or even vintage?

[Old Pueblo]

The 1858 O in VG 8 would sell between $40-50

 

The 1858 O "Potty" did not sell last night on TT with a high bid of $380.00!

 

That's a heck of a premium...why?

 

I wonder what grade the coin was, when it was altered?

 

 

 

 

 

[jesbroken]

I feel so sad when I see one of these beautiful and artistic coins degraded into something only a perverted mind could even imagine, much less create! Sorry to be so harsh, but, c'mon really, does anyone on this forum truly enjoy this numismatic travesty?

JMO

Jim

[newprepper]

I'm a pretty crude guy, 4-letter words and all, love Andrew Dice Clay, Old Eddie Murphy, etc. and I think they are pretty vulgar

[WoodenJefferson]

Let travel back in time today 25 years, 50 years, 100 years even back as far as 125 years when in the din of the evening light, these coins were transformed into a type of contemporary folk art. Someone looked at the coin and thought of a chamber pot instead of the chair and proceeded to engrave the titillating potty.

 

These were done before French Postcards were readily available so these 'soft porn' coins were readily accepted by military men who were away from home, coal miners, prisoners, loggers or any other profession where loneliness occurs.

 

Also a coin flip as every one often called heads in hopes the potty side would land up and they would be graced with good luck.

 

From there it advanced to the complete nude figurine with all the correct anatomy connected to the right places. Now reluctant to spend these 'show and tell' coins, they became risque' pocket pieces.

[Nutmeg Coin]

I feel so sad when I see one of these beautiful and artistic coins degraded into something only a perverted mind could even imagine, much less create! Sorry to be so harsh, but, c'mon really, does anyone on this forum truly enjoy this numismatic travesty?

JMO

Jim

 

Not to mention that it is against the law to do this to coins and currency. Or how about taking a gold or a Bison note and turning them into "cartoon" notes with Greenspan or Bernanke laughing like the devil? We have law enforcement for a reason designed to protect what the government has made as an emblem of the people's culture.

[Conder101]

Not to mention that it is against the law to do this to coins and currency.

This is not correct. Mutilation of the coinage is perfectly legal as long as there is no intent to defraud. The laws dealing with the currency though are more strict and it is illegal to alter or mutilate the currency in a fashion so as to render it unfit to be reissued. There is no requirement that there need be an intent to defraud.