Please HelP! Real coin or fake?

[zond1975 0]

I bought this coin in a local antique shop in Dublin as Unknown item. I'm hammered coins collector by myself never seen something like this. never heard about same mistakes ... Just wondering if some one have any information.

[zond1975 0]

other side

[zond1975 0]

scale

[Rob 2,996]

Well, first of all it shouldn't have two obverses. My first reaction was whether the dies used were the same for both sides which would suggest a cast which has been joined, but the die fill suggests not. I would certainly expect it to show some sort of join around the edge. What is the diameter? a sixpence should weigh 3.0g in theory and be about 25mm diameter. If less than this - say 19 or 20mm, then it will be two threepences joined. Hammered coins are actually quite thin, so you should be able to see a join unless it has been filed down.

[TomGoodheart 373]

Very odd. However, I believe the pile (the bit that was fixed to the bench) bore the obverse design for the coin and the trussel (the bit that was hit with the hammer) the reverse.

The 'obverse' and 'reverse' legends on your coin are different so it appears someone has decided to use two different piles (obverse dies) to make this coin. Less of an error coin and more of a deliberate mistake!

Edited May 20, 2012 by TomGoodheart

[zond1975 0]

Well, first of all it shouldn't have two obverses. My first reaction was whether the dies used were the same for both sides which would suggest a cast which has been joined, but the die fill suggests not. I would certainly expect it to show some sort of join around the edge. What is the diameter? a sixpence should weigh 3.0g in theory and be about 25mm diameter. If less than this - say 19 or 20mm, then it will be two threepences joined. Hammered coins are actually quite thin, so you should be able to see a join unless it has been filed down.

Thanks for reply. The edge is about 1 mm and no any marks on it and diameter about 24mm so this is sixpence, portraits are not a same (one of the bust is bigger )

[TomGoodheart 373]

My guess (without examining it) is that someone has seen fit to make a double headed coin. Whether a mint worker for their own or someone else's use, or someone has managed to get hold of a couple of coin dies, we'll never know. My guess is the former, since it would be difficult and risky, but probably easier than getting hold of undamaged dies if you had no connection with the Tower mint.

Edited May 20, 2012 by TomGoodheart

[Peter 615]

Why buy it?

[zond1975 0]

Why buy it?

I'm not selling, just want to know bit more information about it... By the way, how much this coin can cost?

[TomGoodheart 373]

Why buy it?

I'm not selling, just want to know bit more information about it... By the way, how much this coin can cost?

A sixpence in that condition with the hand mint mark .. £30 or so. Pierced .. £20 on a good day. But a unique curiosity? Hard to tell really. If you were fortunate to find the right buyer it could go for quite a bit more than what I've suggested, maybe several times. But finding a buyer will be tricky. How much did it cost you?

[Coinery 926]

Why buy it?

I'm not selling, just want to know bit more information about it... By the way, how much this coin can cost?

I think on the whole people are looking for 'types', whether micro-varieties or not (whatever's your bag with that one), but an oddity, a curiosity? I'd be spending my money on a similar grade coin that could actually be classified, linking one moment in history to another, that's how it works for me at least. For me it would be nothing other than an interesting discussion coin, I'd probably take off the coin I'm wearing, and wear that instead!

Now, if you can find a 16/17thC oil painting with the subject wearing the 'famous double-headed sixpence', I'll buy both.

Welcome back to the forum!

Edited May 21, 2012 by Coinery

[TomGoodheart 373]

For me it would be nothing other than an interesting discussion coin, I'd probably take off the coin I'm wearing, and wear that instead!

Just out of interest, what coin are you wearing Stuart? I've recently been wearing this:

Mercury (though eveyone knows it's a she and She is Liberty) dimes are supposed to be lucky, Mecury being the god of chance. Leap year dates (which this one is, 1944, the last leap year of issue) are especially so, it's said.

I also have one of those Johnson Matthey replica touchpieces. Though at the moment I'm actually wearing a brass snake buckle on a cord as a sort of amulet.

[zond1975 0]

Why buy it?

I'm not selling, just want to know bit more information about it... By the way, how much this coin can cost?

A sixpence in that condition with the hand mint mark .. £30 or so. Pierced .. £20 on a good day. But a unique curiosity? Hard to tell really. If you were fortunate to find the right buyer it could go for quite a bit more than what I've suggested, maybe several times. But finding a buyer will be tricky. How much did it cost you?

It cost me 85 Euro and I hope it's not so bad for this example...

[zond1975 0]

For me it would be nothing other than an interesting discussion coin, I'd probably take off the coin I'm wearing, and wear that instead!

Just out of interest, what coin are you wearing Stuart? I've recently been wearing this:

Mercury (though eveyone knows it's a she and She is Liberty) dimes are supposed to be lucky, Mecury being the god of chance. Leap year dates (which this one is, 1944, the last leap year of issue) are especially so, it's said.

I also have one of those Johnson Matthey replica touchpieces. Though at the moment I'm actually wearing a brass snake buckle on a cord as a sort of amulet.

Same Mercury One Dime been found last year on Dublin beach by myself with metal detector http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-80c3vqjEU (same place) I hope this coin been lost from WW2.

[TomGoodheart 373]

Same Mercury One Dime been found last year on Dublin beach by myself with metal detector

All the luckier! (I had to buy mine.)

[Coinery 926]

For me it would be nothing other than an interesting discussion coin, I'd probably take off the coin I'm wearing, and wear that instead!

Just out of interest, what coin are you wearing Stuart? I've recently been wearing this:

Mercury (though eveyone knows it's a she and She is Liberty) dimes are supposed to be lucky, Mecury being the god of chance. Leap year dates (which this one is, 1944, the last leap year of issue) are especially so, it's said.

I also have one of those Johnson Matthey replica touchpieces. Though at the moment I'm actually wearing a brass snake buckle on a cord as a sort of amulet.

I've always had an Elizabeth I sixpence, for about 15 years now! Makes me feel all kind of ancient ! This is my third one, my son pulling one off my neck in a swimming pool...I returned to the pool minutes after losing it, gone, nobody handed it in either!!!! The other, can't remember what happened to that?

I like your's, it's a nice thing to wear something such as this, especially to wonder who else, or how many others, have worn it...and when!

Edited May 22, 2012 by Coinery