A friend brought me this dime to see if I could find out how it came about, and if it had any value above the face value.The date appears to be 1999D, although the last nine is not completely visible. The weight is exactly the same as a regular clad dime at 2.2 gms. The diameter is 16.66mm instead of 17.7mm of a regular dime. The thickness of the edge is 2.07mm instead of the regular thickness of 1.05mm. The thickness of the center of the coin appears to be normal, but I don't have a tool to measure it. I have other photos I can email. Does anyone know how this coin could have ended up like this? And possible value to an error coin collector? JonySky
Looks to me as though the edges were pressed inwards towards the middle of the coin. IMO I would say it didnt come from mint like that. More like someone steadily tapping the edges onto a surface and rolling up the edge. Can you take a picture of the edge and post? If I am correct the edging would be gone!
Well darn if I don't seem to have the 1974 version of the same thing. Here's mine and a look at the rim...
Thanks. Here's a truer image of mine (1974), coloring- and lighting-wise. I always just assumed this was a some kind of post-mint "collar" to prepare the coin for some kind of jewelry (a neck chain, earrings, whatever). Big and pleasant surprise, here...
I tried to open that spooning link and it cant find a match. I remember a conversation I had when I was a kid about people either spooning or tapping nickles like that and making rings. Does anyone know what I am talking about? And how do theytake the center out to put your finger through. I am not recommending doing this to coins I am just curious as to how that story ended.
Do an archive search of "spoon" and you'll find the threads. Again, mine looks like a "collar" was put on the coin, and it doesn't appear like it was tapped down. Yours looks that way to me, too, from your pics. I wish we could see other examples of this, but all I could find are approximations, which, quite honestly, don't cut it with me. Yours is the closest example to my coin I ever saw, and I've yet to see anything as closely-matched, with a description of how that happened. BTW, your rim is "seamless," right (you can't find a "seam" on the rim, it looks like it's all one solid piece?)? Yeah, so's mine.
If you'll notice, the part of the coin in the link just inside the rim is "concave," which would make sense from all the outside rim banging, pushing that part of the coin inward and upward...but, no so in these examples we're providing...
Short answer on the links.....stuck in a laundromat washing machine....the lack of reeding is a dead giveaway.....sorry to say, but these are all too common.
"Tumbled," not "spooned." My men's intuition tells me we're getting warmer (if not, explained it entirely).
Thanks Thanks to all for the input. I like the ring link, I think I'll try that, but it definately seem that this coin is the result of some type of manipulation to the coin. Which is good to know since I had no ideal how in the world it could be created in the minting process, nor how it could end up in circulation afterward. Again my thanks to all. JonySky
Another explanation would be that the coin was made by a drunken counterfeiter. Possibly if rolled down a hill several thousand times that could also be the results. Squeezed by someone with super powers to make a half dime. :smile :smile
Hi All, Even collectors clearing house in CW incorrectly identified one of these. Coins like this are seldom if ever spooned. It's a waste of time and energy. Invariably, these are coins that were stuck inside one of the "fins" of a commercial clothes drier. I've seen many of them. It is highly unusual to find a current, small denomination coin that has in fact been spooned. Bill
The person above me seems right, I dont think that someone would spend HOURS tapping a coin with a spoon/hammer just to make it look weird. Rob
You're right they don't. But they do spend hours trying to make the coins into a ring, then get tired of it because it takes a long, long, long time to spoon a coin into a ring - say the heck with it and spend the coin. They never had any intention of trying to make it look weird.
I think we can safely say that this isn't spooned. Dimes are too small in diameter to make into rings. Clad coins aren't known for spooning. Copper is not a safe metal to have against your skin and it will turn it green. Also real spooned coins will show hammer marks on the edge.
i have the same 1999d with the missing 9 dime looks exactly like the one in the post,,, i find it hard to believe that the same coins in the exact same shape can be from a bored spooner ,,,,