Hi all, I wanted to share this interesting item I picked up at a flea market many years ago. When I first saw it I was intrigued by it because I didn't know why a US Cent would be embedded in a rectangular piece of lead. Also because 1971 is my birthyear. The seller said that it was a cent that fell into some lead by accident, but I figured out later that it's actually a stamp. There is a name on the edge. It reads MARGARET CAREY, in reverse of course. And thinking about it I figured that it cannot be just 1 Cent embedded but 2 Cents because of the thickness of the lead. This lead stamp weighs 32.1 grams.
I agree... the "fell into some lead" theory doesn't make the slightest bit of sense, but why coins in a lead stamp? It's certainly interesting.
Perhaps Ms Carey just wanted to leave her "two cents worth". Chris PS. Maybe "imbed" is a variant simply because people got tired of correcting others. Does anyone watch Judge Judy? "There's no such word as tooken!"
I will guess that it is a printer's block and looking at the thickness of it there may be a third cent in the middle. the coins where cast into the block to give it something solid to clamp against as not to crush and distort the block and letters on it as it was mounted into a printing press.
I love Flea Market hunting. I have a thread for this item I got for $20.00 once! From 2015 - https://www.cointalk.com/threads/diamond-jubilee-treasury-coins-and-stamps-1909-1984.262160/
It is indeed a printers block, of sorts. It came from a linotype machine.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linotype_machine
No lead allowed in the water! I get yelled at by my fishing buddies whenever I hold a small lead fishing weight in my mouth when rigging a new hook to my line!
Shoot. Gramps made those lead sinkers in his basement. Times have changed as that was an eternity ago.......
That's the first thing I thought of when Green mentioned it (this is news to me). Good to know times have indeed changed.
