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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;robinjojo, post: 4466498, member: 110226&quot;]Yes, the hole does not go through the obverse.&nbsp; It is truly massive, about 5 mm wide and roughly 2.5 mm deep, and flat at the bottom - unusual.&nbsp; It&#039;s almost like an mini impact crater.&nbsp; There is some white-like material towards the bottom, but that could be remnants of the original surface that could be be removed, or, could it be tin, oxidizes white?&nbsp; I&#039;ve never heard of tin being used as a core metal, it is quite light compared to copper, which must have been much more readily available.</p><p><br /></p><p>My guess is that this hole was in the flan at the time of striking, perhaps as a means to show the core of the coin?&nbsp; Give the size of the hole, and the coin&#039;s weight at 16.2 grams, I&#039;d guess that the metal displaced would be in the neighborhood of 2, possibly 3 grams?&nbsp; Also, the obverse does not show any significant flattening, as one would expect from the force of the punch.&nbsp; The alignment of the reverse punch is not in line with the puffy cheek, but more in line with the forehead and upper hair line.</p><p><br /></p><p>I do not see any signs of a copper core and I think it is silver, but one other thought occurred: is it possible that the coin was struck with a copper or base metal core, with the hole already in the flan, and then plated? With the hole &quot;proving&quot; that the coin is silver, could this be a ploy to avoid further testing while the coin is in circulation?&nbsp; Actually, I don&#039;t think this is the case, given that this coin has been buried for quite a while and shows no breaks indicating silver plating or copper oxidation.&nbsp; Still it is an odd bird, or puffer fish, and an interesting coin to contemplate.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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