This awesome piece just came to me as part of a wholesale lot. These Opium Dollars were used to conceal a small quantity of opium or, for the less pharmaceutically inclined, a picture of a loved one. A super cool piece of history and a nice conversation piece.
Nice and like CN I've wanted one for a long time, but the few I've come across for sale were.. "lesser" examples poorly made or if as nice as yours well beyond my splurge/exonumia budget very neat pickup
Clamshell coins are cool, but is there any evidence that they were actually used for opium? The quantity you could put in there is minuscule, and there were no laws in the US regarding opium until 1909, so there was no reason to conceal it. I'm curious as to when these started getting called "opium dollars." Nice acquisition regardless. Here are some actual opium boxes.
These pieces used to be fairly cheap many years ago. I bought this one for less than $50. This was also done with 1892 and '93 Columbian half dollars. I've seen pictures of them, but never one in person.
If the hinges are good they sell for $300-500 for Clams. My hinge is fine Got mine for much less. They thought it was counterfeit since the weight was low
