Got this for $20 Saturday. The coin shop owner said it was a gear whereas I thought it was a pie cutter. Anybody know?
Pie cutter. I think that's so cool that people used coins back then for alternate uses such as cutting pies...
Mmmm. Pie. I love thinking about all the different pies my coins have been through... pecan, apple, meat... deliciousness.
It would likely be for pie crimping, but I am shocked that a large cent was not used instead of a half dollar given the large sum of money that a half dollar represented.
Exactly what I thought when I seen the Bust half , that was a super lot of money , heck we hardly made silver dollars back then and the 1/2 did most of the heavy lifting of our economy .
Cool looking coin C-B-D. The cuts are too shallow for a gear IMO. It must have been used for something important since they used a half dollar. What ever it was made for it doesn't look like it was used much because the hole doesn't look very worn. Bruce
I caution against haste. The cookie-cutter theory seems implausible. If you look at the actual wear on the obverse and reverse of the coin, it could have been an idler gear of some kind, transmitting motion, but not much force. The center hole is not deformed. I don't know that much about machinery and certainly not 19th century milling. Just to say ... I distrust easy answers.
