Hello. I was hoping someone here could answer a couple questions for me about a coin I have. I have a 1942 Walking Liberty HD and it has a hole in it. The hole doesn't go all the way through the coin. I was wondering how this could of gotten there and how much the value of the coin decreases due to it's presence?
Looks like it was hit with a flat punch for setting nails. Probably a bored carpenter on his lunch break. It just makes it worth it's intrinsic bullion value, which is about 12x face value ($6).
On an uncirculated coin.. I’ve heard comments tend toward rarity, not so much though in hinting towards a lack of value. Though they’re probably more common than you think. Rarity doesn’t always mean value(TM)(not mine) Who wants to see that on an esteemed coin .. there are much prettier designs to chase for strikethroughs.
Might have even jumped during minting.. maybe an error.. if you hold it to a release of proofing by Mint standards. Don’t confuse wizzed coins with cloth strikethroughs.. One is laughed at, one is desired at a far distance. Though are hard to tell apart.
A person can think what they want to think .. but what’s crazy is to say you’re going to prove what you’re going to prove.. that it can be adhered to well enough in recognition by others.. and still be OUT OF PLACE enough to cause you to need to do so cannot exist together. Like the number of silver pieces and dollars with a semi punch through them, and that bored carpenter just never giving up all those years searching for what he was looking for... THATS CRAZY
Was it a collective of a punch union? How come easier coins to run into in change don’t have it ? Who thinks a bored carpenter who never gives up has better odds of being the absolute atmosphere presence over the Mint?
As stated by the @TheFinn damage others statements well you probably can tell. Welcome to Cointalk Dave
Generally cleaned and damaged coins lose alot of their value. Lucky this coin has silver value as well. I would suggest you doing searches for mint errors and damaged coins this will give you knowledge of the types of damage and errors out there so you can learn for yourself. There are also many value guides out there. For common coins you can look at sales history on ebay to get an idea on values those sell for. Chris
So .. I used to do jewelry stuff and musical instrument repair. When one does any hammering you do it on a hard surface, such as a hardened steel block. But you also use softer material to cushion stuff you only want to do slight work on. This comes in the form of softer material block, flat sheets of softened metal also did the trick. The problem is .. those things cost money and "wear" out and thus you have to buy more. Why am I telling you this? Well, there was an article a long time ago (early 90s) about just using your pocket change to buffer stuff. As, when it's damaged it's still worth face value. And you aren't essentially throwing away money using all the other stuff. So, as an example, even using a vice, we'd use (usually copper) coins on either side of the vice to buffer the object from the hardened steel vice jaws. So coins can get damaged in an unlimited amount of methods. Your coin could have been damaged over 60 years ago. You don't know exactly how. And we're just *guessing* .. but it certainly looks like a punch. For another example, See https://www.cointalk.com/threads/post-your-pmd-post-mint-damage-coin.318993/#post-3119390 The forum makes me wish I took a picture of each and every coin that I damaged over time for various things. I swear looking at some of them that I created a few ... although if I posted all that I might get expelled from the forum. LOL Truthfully, from my perspective it's not "why would someone do this" ... but "why not". Think of all the other uses ppl use coins for whether a functional use, or just boredom and not as a "coin collector" but think like the general public. And next time you throw a penny in a wishing well ...
It's post mint damage and is only worth the value of the silver. Don't be confused by some of the above posts, it's obviously not an error. It would be impossible for the reverse to deform opposite of the hole like you see here if it happened during the strike, because the coin would have been in the dies at the time.
Why people do this to coins is beyond me. But we see a pretty good number of coins that have been deliberately damaged in threads such as this one.
Also, but it would be rare, coin mechanics, people who are fewer today as most of the expert ones have retired or died, could repair valuable rare coin that were plugged previously. Obviously , those that could do such a job without amateur detection were in demand in the last century for colony time coins that had been nailed to the home threshold for good luck. To make the coinage close, punchouts of the less rare coins of correct metal composition could be used as a filler and then using graver's instruments , tools to blend it. A little AT on the coin and it is hard for amateurs ( and sometimes museums) to detect. Like Clawcoins , I also have done similar with common coins. When I installed extra non-load bearing walls in the garage, I use Ike dollars to support them as they were $1 at the bank and that size steel washers at the Hardware store was $1.80. I figured that I made Ikes more rare for todays collectors. Jim
If it's low-mintage or rare, sometimes a damaged coin can have numismatic value. Unfortunately, your coin has the 2nd highest mintage of any Walker. Not rare. On the bright side, it's a nice everyday-carry conversation-starter... might lead you to word-of-mouth discoveries hidden in someone's sock drawer.
