If this was on the shop floor I'd figure it to be a slug. However it is with a batch of U.S. and British coins dated from 1700 to 1890 so it may have one day been a coin. It is non-magnetic and is about the same diameter and thickness as an 1730 British farthing I was asking about in another thread. Doesn't show, but there a ghost image on one side. On the edge it has what looks like "for one dollar" making me think it might be some sort of token. Any thoughts?
If you are sure that it is "non-metalic", what is it? The first plastic was bakelite which did not come into use until 1920's. Prior to that, "non-metalic" would be...... Wood is all I know of.
rlm: bakelite was around before then: Wikipedia: Bakelite is a material based on the thermosetting phenol formaldehyde resin, polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride developed in 1907–1909 by Belgian-American Dr. Leo Baekeland.
Yes, it was invented by Thomas Edison prior to the 1920's. My words were that it did not "come into use" until the 1920's.
is the picture shown the side with the ghost image ? and what size is it like ? quarter, small dollar. half dollar ???
Lettered edge half cent. He said it is roughly the size of a 1730 farthing Our large cent was roughy the size and weight and value of a British halfpenny of the era. So a half cent should be about the size of a farthing. And the edge of the 1793 - 1797 half cents said TWO HUNDRED FOR A DOLLAR (I am assuming he has read the edge slightl wrong or paraphrased i when he posted it here.) On the word HUNDRED are the letters all close together or is there almost enough space between them to put another letter in between each of them? (This will help narrow down the date range.) I can see a little of something on the coin in your picture but not enough to make out exactly what it is. An accurate weght might be helpful as well. Grams to at least two decimals. (Will give clues as to planchet stock and whether it is a very worn coin or a blank planchet.)
Off-topic now but what else for the time period would be non-metallic? Glass, ceramic, or porcelain. And Bakelite was not the first plastic, celluloid preceded it. Celluloid was invented n 1856 and the first large scale production use of it came in 1870.
I mis-spoke on size as I thought my 1730 British coin was a farthing. With your hints i compared it to some large U.S. cents and this thing is the same size. However my better large cents do not have anything on the edges. So I guess this coin more likely says "100 FOR A DOLLAR" (can't read the "100" though) not the 200 a half would have. Thanks So what should one do with such a coin that is only identifiable as a coin?
