Coins with two tails or two heads - every numismatic site there is gets dozens, if not hundreds, of questions about these coins on a regular basis. And as anyone who has been collecting for even a short time will tell you they are magician's coins - coins purposely manufactured as a novelty. But what some don't realize is that there are known genuine examples - certified and slabbed by the top third party grading companies like NGC, ANACS, PCGS & ICG. Make no mistake, these coins are quite rare. I have heard, read or seen pictures of only 4 U.S. examples to date - 2 quarters, 1 Indian cent and a dime. So far I have only been able to locate on-line information about 1 of the quarters and the Indian cent. The following links will provide articles and pics on the subject. I will provide more as I find them. The 1859 2 Headed Indian Cent "This two-headed muling, a business striking - not a proof struck in copper-nickel, was recently rediscovered and was the subject of an article in the September 18, 2000 edition of Coin World. It had been submitted to ANACS for authentification." 1859 Cent -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Another 'impossible' coin possible? "A Washington quarter dollar struck from two Eagle reverse dies has been authenticated, graded Mint State 63 and encapsulated by Numismatic Guaranty Corporation of America." "It is an amazing coin to view," said David Camire, NGC Mint error specialist. "You keep wanting to flip it over and over. I'm sure that we will be getting a lot of calls from people owning magician's coins saying that they have also found one. This coin is not a magician's coin, but it is magic!" Impossible Coin 'Mule herder' adds to stable, acquires double-reverse 25¢ "The E-Sylum: Volume 4, Number 30, July 22, 2001, Article 11 TWO-TAILED QUARTER AUTHENTICATED Speaking of errors, Coin World reported this week that a two-tailed U.S. quarter has been authenticated as genuine. Everything I've ever read about errors said this was an impossibility, and just last week, in an emailed response to a visitor to my web site, I stated flatly that any such piece must be a manufactured fantasy, not a product of the U.S. Mint." TWO-TAILED QUARTER AUTHENTICATED 2nd Two Tailed Quarter Surfaces ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There are quite a few known examples of two headed/two tailed world coinage. Mike Byers managed to put together quite a collection of them. Byers Collection 2 Tailed Canadian Cents ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Impossible??? Maybe not... several US coins have been certified as genuine with both heads/heads and tails/tails combinations. http://minterrornews.com/discoveries-2-13-17-pcgs-certifies-unique-two-headed-nickel.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Heads I win, tails you lose. The author sums up the article as likely intentional. I'm sure that anyone who works in machine shops and has access to Industrial quality tools has occasionally experimented. I would think no different for a facility run by incompetent government employees. I propose that an employee was tired of losing bets in the coin flipping craze of the mid century and felt that he never truly had a 50% chance at life, thus compelled by the never ending losing streak to create the only coin in which he could never again lose a toss. I have to imagine now that there is also a double head out there for those times when the opponent insisted on tails.