Take a Look: Counterfeit 1939 Mercury Dime Dies and Two (Bad) Examples From Them

I just acquired these interesting pieces. Presented are an obverse die, a reverse die (Mercury Dime), and two examples - one from each die.

Questions for y'all...

1. Anyone ever seen a die like this specific kind before?

2. Other than guessing it is from China, is there any way to know where it was made? (Obviously, there are no markings on it).

3.Why counterfeit a common date (1939 Philadelphia)? Maybe to test skills and then advance to a rarer coin? To hide or reprocess bullion/bars by putting them in coin form?

 

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Perhaps it was made in 1939. I vote for a test of skills as a primary reason.

 

Do you have provenance for these? Do you know how old they are?

I'm reminded of the infamous Soviet 1923-D and 1930-D dimes...

 

Yikes!

 

I acquired these from a fellow collector in California (I am in Buffalo). No idea as to origin or year made

 

Not sure what the first two things are (possibly VERY crude dies), the coin looks like a contemporary counterfeit. It MAY have been made from the "dies" shown and if so it was probably made domestically. And it was a lousy job and probably very fe were made before they gave it up. Or made better dies.

 

those two specimens are definitely from the dies presented

 

Frankly, it looks as if someone was trying to make a big of a total mess as they could. I’ll go with the analysis of @Conder101

 

Well, I've been following this thread, and upon further thought:

I wonder if this could have been the result of a student project, either school related or just for the fun of it, to see what the process entails.

It seems to me to be so crude as to not be the work of someone seriously intending to mint coins.

I'm not so certain there's an ulterior motive other than to test a theory or have fun. This seriously doesn't look professional (even for the Chinese! ).

Just a thought...

 

Since it is illegal, I would think that any school would not permit. But, you never know.

 

I'm just saying it could have been a general assignment to make something, or even to copy a certain process, without necessarily specifying a final "product".

Or it could have been one of our esteemed members (much earlier in life, in their formative years, who won't fess up now because the fear of ridicule for such a poor showing, and who fears retribution from the government because he - or she - just wanted to experiment in his - or her - uncles machine shop which happened to have a 10-ton press & some spare scrap metal...but I digress ).

Ah, never mind, I'll go with what @Conder101 said!

 

Well, that clears things up. I'm going with you and @Conder101

 

I'm not sure either but I don't think they are dies. From the images the design devices appear to be in relief and on a die the design would be incused. Looks more like something used in a casting process.

 

yea. they are cast dies

 

The coin is a product of a casting process. Most cast coins have around ~5% Lead in the composition. Since this appears as a crude attempt to cast this coin using probably real 1939 Merc coins in this crude mold (i.e., obverse and reverse) this is as you say is maybe a just a whimsy type apparatus to produce a cast coin of a 1939 Mercury Dime. Casting molds even for the George II counterfeits of England are many times more advanced even for the 19thC as compared to this two plate screw job after the mixture is poured into the mold. This looks like a CRUDE 20thC home attempt and as we can see to produce a not very good cast end-product. Interesting group but NOT historically beneficial IMO ... John Lorenzo United States