Interesting Penny

While visiting with my mother recently she showed me some very old
coins that were owned by my father. Don't know their value. But the
most interesting coin was a 1974 penny that was thinner than a regular
penny and was only stamped on one side, the face. The other side was
simply smooth metal. Is it unusual for a coin like this to make it
out into circulation?

Thanks,
Jeff

On Wed, 9 Apr 2008 19:03:43 -0700 (PDT), wrote:
While visiting with my mother recently she showed me some very old
coins that were owned by my father. Don't know their value. But the
most interesting coin was a 1974 penny that was thinner than a regular
penny and was only stamped on one side, the face. The other side was
simply smooth metal. Is it unusual for a coin like this to make it
out into circulation?

I can think of a couple reasons why a coin couldn't be made that way,
and I can think of a couple ways to make one just like it with the tools
in my basement. Granted, my basement has a machine shop, but still.

Dave Hinz wrote:
On Wed, 9 Apr 2008 19:03:43 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:
While visiting with my mother recently she showed me some very old
coins that were owned by my father. Don't know their value. But the
most interesting coin was a 1974 penny that was thinner than a
regular penny and was only stamped on one side, the face. The other
side was simply smooth metal. Is it unusual for a coin like this to
make it out into circulation?

I can think of a couple reasons why a coin couldn't be made that way,
and I can think of a couple ways to make one just like it with the
tools
in my basement. Granted, my basement has a machine shop, but still.


Could be one-half of a magician's coin.

--
©¿©¬
~
Ed Hendricks

Thanks for the responses, the coin doesn't appear to have been
manipulated. Standard "heads" side, smooth, maybe slightly rounded on
the back. The back doesn't appear to have been abraded by a tool or
sander.

On Thu, 10 Apr 2008 13:28:08 -0700 (PDT), wrote:
Thanks for the responses, the coin doesn't appear to have been
manipulated. Standard "heads" side, smooth, maybe slightly rounded on
the back. The back doesn't appear to have been abraded by a tool or
sander.

I'd do it on the metalworking lathe. A very smooth finish can be gained
just with careful tool and speed selection. I'm curious - is there a
tiny point in the center of the back? That'd be a sure sign of a
(slightly misaligned) cut on a lathe. Even without, smoothing the
toolmarks would e pretty easy.

I've made some double-headed half dollars; hollow out the inside of the
back, do the same on anotherbut then flip it around & take the rim off,
and adhere them together. Careful tool work makes the cut line (just
inside the rim) nearly invisible. I did find out, the hard way, that a
test-fit without adhesive is pretty hard to get back apart to add the
adhesive to after the fact...nothing to grab on to, no gaps to work, and
not much inertia.