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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Ian, post: 66753, member: 283&quot;]I haven&#039;t come across one that has had `inlay&#039; work like the one you have. Makes me wonder how they managed to do it with what little tools they had available to them. A nice find.</p><p><br /></p><p>Other items of numismatica which demonstrate amazing levels of workmanship are the so called `smugglers&#039; pieces. That is, pieces that have been made out of two coins of the same type to form one piece ( basically a box with a concealed lid). To the untrained eye they look just like ordinary coins.&nbsp; In fact, I showed one of mine to a US collector friend who was over here in Scotland and he failed to notice what it was. I won&#039;t name or shame him here though. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie2" alt=";)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>Like these carved coins, `smugglers&#039; pieces were typically made by soldiers with time on their hands. I have one (US Trade dollar) which when opened contains an old perfumed photo, presumably of a loved one. Another I have is an old French bronze 10 centimes which when opened contains a photo of Queen Victoria! The Trade dollar is the better of the two both to the eye and on a technical level. However, the french one is the more intriguing. The host coins involved are thin to start with, and creating a convincing smugglers piece from them is indeed `art&#039; (IMHO).[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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