a coin that was given to me by my barber YEARS ago. He shrugged and said "Here you take it." Weight is 3.0 Grams
Interesting that it shrunk so much from being encased. Cool coin. Thanks for sharing it with us. Its got some good wear on the reverse where it buckled a little bit.
so you think it was a "normal size at one point? NAAAAAAA.... Ya Think? I was thinking bored jeweler or something.
I think it's a casting of copper or bronze made from a mold of an original cent. There are porosities on both obverse and reverse. A casting made using a mold from the original coin will result in the product being slightly smaller than the original due to shrinkage of the molten metal as it cools. But the item is 1.3 mm smaller than the standard diameter of 19 mm, 6.8% smaller. Seems like too much given that molten copper shrinks about 5% upon cooling and solidifying. Also, the photos seem to show that all the devices are correspondingly smaller. The weight is about 3.5% lighter than standard, heavier than you might expect for a coin that's 6.8% smaller in diameter and that looks like it might also be the same thickness or possibly thinner than a standard cent. Far too light to be copper coated lead. Why or how somebody made a mold from an original cent and managed to reduce the diameter and the devices proportionately is beyond my feebleness. But it's also possible that the reduced coin is due solely to the solidification shrinkage of copper.
Oh jeeze, I didnt notice that. I was mainly looking at the ring around the edge which is indicative of encasing. Today was a long day. First full day back to work since my son was born...I should go to bed lol
I thought about the electromagnetic coin shrinkers, but that doesn't look like a shrunken cent. I'm wondering if it was cast from some denser metal and then copper-plated, since it's apparently smaller in diameter, but the same approximate thickness and weight as a real cent....?
No I was being very serious I never thought a copper cent could be shrunk down including the letters and busts. Wow I learned something NEW again! Thanks for the lesson.
I can't find the thread in the archives, but i recall, @Fred Weinberg posting a thread about purchasing shrunken coins and giving a brief, general explanation of it was done. They were post mint "mad science", not errors If you have the time, maybe you'll have better luck searching the archives. I believe his post was within the last 1-3 years
I don't know. I left change in my pocket once and when I had put on my protective gear and left my pants near some strange equipment, the magnetometer warning went off and I ended up with this: Please, no hate mail. LOL