Hi, I'm new to this site and have recently been given some coins so will probably be driving you all mad soon, knowing very little about them! The coin I am intrigued about today is a 1797 Cartwheel Penny which is in reasonably good condition. I'll try to post a picture soon. The strange thing about it is it unscrews and is hollow! Inside it is a 1797 halfpenny? which is also in good condition and also unscrews. It is identical in every way to a 'proper' penny (of which I also have a couple...). I've tried googling it and come up with absolutely nothing! Does anyone know what it is, what it would have been used for and what it is worth? Appreciate any help I can get.... Gin
Sounds like a magicians coin. The other possibility is is a coin box, often gold coins were hidden inside a hollowed out copper one. I am sure the experts will be along soon to correct me...
Sounds like one of them Russian toy Bears 1 inside another and so on and so on , cool . Must be worth something . JMO rzage
In the US back in the early to late 19th century Trade dollars were sometimes hollowed out, they are commonly referred to as opium dollars. Perhaps for smuggling the drugs into the country?
They were pretty much legal, if I recall correctly So the only reason to smuggle them would be to avoid the import taxes. And you aren't going to be importing much in a hollowed out coin. Its rumored that hollowed out cartwheel pennies and even larger hollowed two-pennies were used by spies to smuggle messages during the Napoleonic wars. Probably just popular myth though.
People used to carry their opium in them, used much like a snuff box would be. And yes, opium was legal.
