Picked this up over the weekend just a penny pressed into a shell I guess. Also seems to commemorate a terrible event. I just think its cool,and wanted to share. Also curious if this was a common way to make a token.
Not really, but it does happen and that one is very cool. Section: "I found a Treasure in my pocket and it is not what you think! "
It is not an elongated cent, but if you look carefully at the edge, you can see that this souvenir is a capped cent. The 1929 Lincoln Cent is pressed snugly into a die-stamped cap. I have seen another online commemorating (so to speak!) the Bruno Hauptmann trial (convicted of kidnapping & murder of Anne and Charles Lindbergh's baby). For a look at he Hauptmann Trial souvenir capped cent, please go to Ken Potter's website: http://koinpro.tripod.com/Articles/1934HauptmannTrial1c.htm Why this subject unhappy matter and who created these capped coins? I suspect the unknown culprit (and keep in mind, I haved watched a lot of CSI episodes ) is from....New Jersey! The S.S. Morro Castle had a terrible fire at sea and was beached near Asbury Park, New Jersey in 1934. The Hauptmann Trial was held in Flemington, New Jersey in 1935. Both were major national news events of their day, and someone living locally had come up with this way to make an inexpensive and quick-to-market commemorative coin. Perhaps some of our more senior forum members may recall hearing or reading about a 1930's New Jersey area coin dealer who might have created these numismatic souvenirs.
It isn;t an elongated coin, but the process is about the same. I think they probably had a obverse die of the Lincoln to stamp these out. The cent is 1929 and I believe the SS Morro fire was in 1934 ? I kinda think somebody made a bunch of these from a pile of cents and either sold them or gave them out for some reason. It's a cool thing to have. I read that the 184 deaths in the fire is still the highest number killed that way at sea. Neat !
These are sometimes known as shell cents. The shell was made using an embossing die with the design being impressed from the inside creating the raised image on the outside. Then a cent would be placed in the shell and them rotated in a set of rollers that crimped the edge of the shell around the edge of the cent to hold it in. This created an inexpensive souvenir. I don't know where the SS morro pieces were sold but it was probabl on the Jersy Shore to sightseers that came out to see the wreck. The Hauptmann trial pieces were sold to the crowds outside the courthouse where the trial was being held. I don't know who made them. I learned about them in an article in Coins magazine on the Lindbergh kidnapping and trial back in the early 70's. The article focused more on the gold certificates and how they related to the trial, but it did mention the trial shell cents.
