Tom Pellegrini Posted January 21, 2020 Share Posted January 21, 2020 I have an 1862 Indian Head cent that is rather odd. It is unusually thick, and "crudely" made. The edges are not smooth but regularly "flattened". Is it some kind of strike error or was it run over by a train? Tom Pellegrini tompellegrini1946@gmail.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirt Posted January 21, 2020 Share Posted January 21, 2020 ahh...metal shop practice, methinks. Looks a lot like someone put it in a vise at 7:30 on the obverse and then had some fun tapping the rim opposite. Those flattened areas on the edge of the coin are deliberate post-mint damage but the exact mechanism is just a guess. I'm sticking with bored teenager in metal shop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenstang Posted January 21, 2020 Share Posted January 21, 2020 Kirts explanation is as good as any. Unless you were there at the time, it is hard to know exactly what happened. The only thing for sure is that it didn't happen during the striking of the coin so it is PMD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Pellegrini Posted January 21, 2020 Author Share Posted January 21, 2020 1 minute ago, Greenstang said: Kirts explanation is as good as any. Unless you were there at the time, it is hard to know exactly what happened. The only thing for sure is that it didn't happen during the striking of the coin so it is PMD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbbpll Posted January 21, 2020 Share Posted January 21, 2020 Somebody's spooning experiment is my guess, pretty much what Kirt said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Pellegrini Posted January 21, 2020 Author Share Posted January 21, 2020 I probably should have mentioned that my grandfather gave me these about 60 years ago so that teenager is probably dead. 1 minute ago, Tom Pellegrini said: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Pellegrini Posted January 21, 2020 Author Share Posted January 21, 2020 And if the were just "taps" on the rim, why do they show up on the face? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirt Posted January 22, 2020 Share Posted January 22, 2020 (edited) 14 hours ago, Tom Pellegrini said: And if the were just "taps" on the rim, why do they show up on the face? "Taps" is a relative term. If I "tap" a coin's edge with a pen, or my fingernail, there's no noticeable movement of the metal although it could scratch. If I "tap" it with my 5lb maul, I have a seriously bent coin. In between, there's a range of impact that causes distortion of the metal to flow across the face of the coin. Kbbpll brought up spooning, which has always fascinated me from a physics (and patience) perspective...repeated tapping with a spoon on the edge of a coin is enough to displace metal and the result shows on the face of the coin; there's some fascinating videos that show the process...sped up of course. Edited January 22, 2020 by Kirt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
