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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;lordmarcovan, post: 25894010, member: 10461&quot;]No, a button would have the mount in the <i>center</i>.&nbsp; And a four-reales coin would have been rather large for a button anyway.</p><p><br /></p><p>A pinback mount, on the other hand, was attached to the coin in <i>two</i> places, one on <i>either side</i>.&nbsp; On one side was the hinge to which the pin was attached, and on the other side was the clasp which fastened it.</p><p><br /></p><p>And in the case of this coin, the person who made it into a piece of jewelry just happened to choose to display the reverse (coat of arms) side facing outward, since we can see that the pinback was originally mounted on the dated (obverse) side of the coin:</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/dsc_1581-removebg-preview-png.1649455/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Below are some examples of pinback-mounted love tokens, borrowed from <a href="https://www.kenbarr.com/lovetokens.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.kenbarr.com/lovetokens.html" rel="nofollow">this page</a> (on which there are other examples).</p><p><br /></p><p>The first coin below (a Seated half) shows the mount missing, like with [USER=136180]@Abramthegreat[/USER] &#039;s coin above, though here, the hook for the clasp did survive and is still mounted to the coin:</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://www.kenbarr.com/Favorites/slh-rainey.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><font size="3">Image credit: </font><a href="https://www.kenbarr.com/lovetokens.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.kenbarr.com/lovetokens.html" rel="nofollow"><font size="3">Ken Barr</font></a></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>The pinback is still present and intact on this second coin (a Trade dollar):</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://www.kenbarr.com/Favorites/trd-aa.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><font size="3">Image credit: <a href="https://www.kenbarr.com/lovetokens.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.kenbarr.com/lovetokens.html" rel="nofollow">Ken Barr</a></font></p><p><br /></p><p>Both of these coins were further hand-engraved as love tokens, while the colonial Bolivian coin above was not.</p><p><br /></p><p>These pinbacks were sometimes fragile and did not always survive the wear and tear they underwent when the coins were worn as jewelry.&nbsp; At some point in the last two centuries, [USER=136180]@Abramthegreat[/USER]&#039;s coin lost its pinback mount.</p><p><br /></p><p>This is the sort of &quot;damaged&quot; coin I do not object to quite as much, because in this case the damage to the coin reveals some of its history.</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;ll bet that four-reales piece could tell some stories, if it could talk.&nbsp; It&#039;s <i>been</i> places and seen some stuff over the last 246 years.&nbsp; And it was special to somebody once. </p><p><br /></p><p>It&#039;s nice to see that it will be special to somebody again.&nbsp; <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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