I've had this Naples & Sicily 1859 10 Tornesi in my collection for years. However, only recently did i notice that the coin has a rather unique edge. It looks as if two separate planchet halves were used rather than a complete, single planchet, leaving a somewhat recessed milled edge in between the two halves. In effect, the coin has the appearance of an Oreo. Any ideas what is going on with this coin? Thanks in advance!
This edge is considered milled, the question is of which direction the slanting is. One variant is to the left, and one is to the right.
Hi, that is the last 10 Tornesi coin minted by the Kingdom - "Regno Delle Due Sicilie" (Kingdom of the Two Sicilies) in Napoli (Naples). Apparently they also minted some at the Papal mint in Rome. It was the largest copper coin they minted, 31.18 Grams. The grooved edge on the coin I believe was only used on the 10 Tornesi coins. The King on the obverse is "Francesco II di Borbone", the last king of that Kingdom. They would be defeated by the Northern Italians in the Italian war of Unification in around 1861.
Several modern British coins used in their colonies, Hong Kong and British Honduras for instance have a similar edge called a security edge.
Thanks for your responses, everyone! Whether this is a security edge or something else, it's really shoddy craftsmanship as the recessed groove changes in diameter, depth, and even becomes de-centered as it circles around the coin. This is why i'm still concerned that it may be a fake/forgery of some sort.
I think it's fine. I have a couple post conder tokens with similar edges. I think that's just a product of minting technology at the time. Even the US today has issues with missing edge lettering and lettering not lining up.
