What is the meaning...

of "Cartwheel coins" ?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=39465&item=3950993138&rd=1

 

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They're as big as wagon wheels or cart wheels....back in the day.

 

Cartwheel is a phrase used when a coin reflects the light in a straight pattern, if you move the coin back and forth, from opposite ends of the surface and appears to "turn" as that coin is moved in that light.

It implies that the coin is very shiny.

 

True but not how its being used here. IMO

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=cartwheel

 

English 2 pence for 1797 were often called cartwheels because of their large size and thickness.

 

If i recall correctly, both the pennies and the two pences were referred to as Cartwheels from that period, due to the size. But generally when anyone says Cartwheel i start thinking of 1797 twopences.

 

In this auction I would guess the "Cartwheel" meaning has to do with the reflection of light as Tanner520 stated.

 

I think so, but there seems to be a difference in the meaning depending on who you talk to. I had never heard of "cartwheel" used for the size of a coin....but I learned something new.

 

In this case, the term "cartwheel", is used loosely to mean "silver dollar".

In our hobby, "cartwheel" is a way to describe the luster of a coin. (especially silver dollars)

A coin with "cartwheel luster" will reflect light in a radiating pattern, similar to the spokes in a wagon wheel. (I doubt, very seriously, that any of the coins, in that auction, have this attribute)

Frosty, Mint State coins often display this type of luster.

 

I would have to agree with Sylvester on this one. The term originally came with the British twopence due to its large cartwheel size. How many of you have ever actually seen a two ounce coin that actually was put in circulation. Can you imagine carrying 10 or 15 two ounce coins around in your pocket. I am, at this very time, trying to get my hands on a nice example of this coin, due to its huge size and the history that goes along with it. While we do use the term cartwheel, as many of you have described, nothing better illustrates the term than those British coins. And, like it or not, the cart wheel was still very much in use in the late 1800's, thus the term was born for that particular coin and "cartwheel" has been used for various other coins and or coin descriptions since!

 

Actually, still very much in use today.

If you ever travel through certain areas of Ohio and Pennsylvania, you'll know what I mean.

I was really surprised, when I ran up behind a horse and buggy, earlier this week, only miles from my house.

 

i have both the cartwheel 2 pence and penny,very nice coins they are too.

the cartwheel the seller means on the morgan though is the effect you get from mint luster on a au+ coin

if you hold the coin by the edge with 3 fingers noving the mingers up and down slowly under a light so one end then another of the coin is raised higher, you will see a strip of reflective light on the coin and as you move it in your fingers under the light, this strip will spin around the coin.

if the luster is unbroken it will be a constant line giving the so called cart wheel effect.guess it comes from the fact the spokes on a cartwheel when moving very fast on a axle will apear stationary.

unbroken cartwheel effect is atritubed to unbroken mint luster reflecting the light on the coin, a coin without luster will not reflect light to give this affect.still even coins with broken luster will appear to cartwheel so its obviously not a 100% way of determining grade by any means, but it can help to determine if its been cleaned.

 

We'll have to agree to disagree on this one.

 

heres pic of a cartwheel penny i have

 

The Cartwheel

"A Cart Wheel" is a slang term used in Numismatics to describe a very large coin. The term has been used several times and orignated in Europe to describe a Thaler. The name was carried to the United States and when the Dollar became the coin of the realm the name was applied to the dollar.

The refelective properties of a newly minted coin is called a "Sheen" and describes a refelection that has a satin appearence and seems to move in a circle when the coin is tilted back and forth.

catman

 

OK, I emailed the seller and asked what he meant. Here's the response exactly as i received it.

"Morgan silver dollars were called Cart Wheels years ago,cause of there
huge size."

 

This is true. It can also mean the way a coin tones. It can have "cart wheel toning" or rather toning that circles the entire coin.

 

on the coin im showing its not realy a slang name it is listed in books by that name.

 

It looks like we have adisagreement on this one. Cart Wheel has nothing to do with the coins eoning. Toning is an act of oxidation of the coin and really has nothing to do with the coins size and weight.

catman

 

This whole discussion brings to mind the scene in Lewis Carroll's Alice Through the Lookingglass where Humpty Dumpty explains to Alice that when he uses them, words mean what he wants them to!

Actually I have heard "cartwheel" used in all of the ways described here, although "cartwheel toning" as a description for tarnish is probably the least common of the three.