Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Curtis, post: 1793921, member: 26430&quot;]I don&#039;t know much about this, so please excuse me for saying anything particularly ignorant. I collect ancient coins almost exclusively, but I have a couple boxes and bags of American and World coins that I bought 20-25 years ago. One in particular is puzzling to me:</p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb457/jjacobsc/th_quartereagle1.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p> <p style="text-align: center"><font size="3">(full size below)</font></p><p>It appears to be an 1843-D Liberty Quarter Eagle strike, except the flan is not gold (it does have some gold-toned patches around the periphery). It&#039;s ~18mm and weighs ~2.15 grams. The flan appears to be tin, zinc, or some alloy (perhaps it was gold-plated at one time to pass off as a $2.50 coin?). I purchased it from a bargain bin at a show, where it was described as some kind of unknown mystery coin. The first coin dealer I brought it to told me it was an error, and that the coin was struck on a silver dime flan in error (the diameter is about right, but it seems to be about 1/4-1/5 gram too light to be a silver dime flan from the time).</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Later I showed it to a dealer specializing in tokens and exonumia, who told me it was a &quot;test strike&quot;: Before minting coins for official circulation, he told me, it was typical to test strike them on tin or other base metal flans.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Does anyone have any idea what this is? I find it a nice conversation piece (no one&#039;s given a confident ID) and want to know more about it, but I also wonder if could be of any value (I doubt I&#039;d sell it unless it was outrageously valuable, but I&#039;m curious).</p><p><br /></p><p>Thanks for any help! </p><p>&nbsp;<img src="http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb457/jjacobsc/quartereagle1.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><img src="http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb457/jjacobsc/quartereagle2.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in