Lead US replica coins?

For anyone with a knowledge of die trial coin weights, I had this Morgan replica weighed. It's 19.76 grams and a real Morgan dollar weighs 26.+ grams.

 

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Yes, I sent a reply and thanks. I'll try the link. lol...So I don't get disappointed if they are just repros, I call them that.
This is a real mystery at the moment for me. The double headed 1936 Buffalo nickel seems to be made of the same metal as the other four coins, a lead type metal. So why make a "trick" coin and then make all the rest according to specs? Could the Buffalo have purposefully been put through a die trial twice? And on the Morgan, their is lots of cud like a die/mold wasn't cleaned?
So many questions, so few answers, aarrrgggghhhh! lol P

 

Did your dealer have any opinion about
it? When you do find out what they are
please let us know. Because this
is really is weird.

 

He's a coin enthusiast but not professional. He did state it wasn't dipped or else the weight would have matched a regular Morgan dollar. He didn't want to guess if it was a die trial or not. I have some extra emails out with pics and hope to hear something in the next few days. Will keep you posted

 

One coin dealer got back to me and said he didn't think they were real. He didn't elaborate on the word "real" though. A die trial isn't a real coin and that is the only possibility of them, except that their just reproductions. I Googled metal content for die trials and haven't found anything on it yet. Knowing what metal they are of would help to know if these are like them.

 

Repro coins are usually famous coin such as 1913 Lib nickel or they are coins that
collectors like but are pricy such colonials. There was even a repro
of the 1847 Gothic Crown. It just doesn't make sense that someone would make
make repros of 1949 quarter or that they would use what looks to a well worn
Morgan as a host for transfer dies. Unless this is the work a collector who finally
went over the edge.

But they set a gap between dies to try and prevent die clashes if there is a mis-feed.
They would also do test strikes to make sure the gap is no too much and that they
are getting a good strike. The Morgan you have may have been a lead trial used
for the first test and the gap was too much and it left a light impression. Lead and
and copper are common metals for die trials.

 

Thanks for the information.
I read a couple articles last night about die trial coins and learned they use
multiple dies and swap and mix the dies in the trial process so they purposefully
make "funny" or "fancy" type coins that collectors may or may not be interested
in buying. I also read like you stated they use a variety of metals when doing
die trials. They did mention it was tough to know in some cases if a coin is a
die trial or not.
So I'm back where I was not knowing what they are. (heavy sigh) lol.

 

Well sometimes people get skunked trying to figure
out what they have. David Bowers is a big league
researcher with and extensive library. And yet he
has some counter-stamps he bought in the 50's
that he still hasn't been able to identify.

 

They might just be replicas. Maybe they were cast by a student learning the casting process or maybe they were used for medallions, jewelry or whatever.

 

Die trials were made of a # of different metals including lead , copper , white metal etc.

 

I received a response from Andy at USpatterns.com and he said... "[FONT=arial,sans-serif]If they're lead (or anything similar) they are fakes." So I will
take the coins to a metal specialist in town and get their opinion of metal content.
As the saying goes..."you win some and you lose some and then there's just those dang ties". lol [/FONT]

 

Yep , spashers in lead are just one side obverse or reverse and usually with raised edges were the die didn't strike . Andy should know what he's talking about , that's for shure .

 

Okay, some basic ABC's for me if you wouldn't mind? For my thinking, if a die doesn't strike correctly/firmly, it would seem that the edges would be less raised and or smoother like having been well worn in circulation. But you say the edges would be raised? How is that? Would you have a link to show a picture of an example that I can see? Thanks for your time

 

Here's a French splasher , as you can see they are struck on larger diameter pieces so the ends are raised , I'll try to find a US example .

 

Okay, I see. I found some US splasher examples. Mine don't look like them at all. And I'm still trying to figure out why make a double headed Buffalo coin out of two lead Buffalo coins? Did they really have that much time on their hands to mess with coins?
I smelted some metal in my youth and did ceramics so I'm a little familiar with molds for ceramics and metal. The smelting of the Morgan puzzles me. The other four coins were made with some obvious care. But the Morgan, it was like there was no care in how it was made with all the cud on the obverse. It's like several or more were possibly made prior to it and when it was made no care to clean the mold or repair it from use was attempted.
I would think anyone wanting to make a decent replica would do that. But no care was used for the Morgan. Sheesh... more questions and few answers, lol.

 

That's part of the fun in collecting , finding the answers . Like someone mentioned before , maybe someone trying their hand at molding some coppies , lead would be the easiest to work with and cheaper than gold . lol I remember casting and loading my own bullets , a lot cheaper than buying them at the range .