I have this 50 cent piece that is in two pieces, the head is machined out like a watch case and the tail is fitted with a foreign copper coin. The two pieces fit together perfectly, (tail inside the head) looking at the coin on edge the copper band matches a normal coin.The only way you can tell is by the sound it makes against other coins. I have a question, WHY! did someone do this or are there more of these coins? Thank You for looking.
Hello. Without asking the machinist, we will probably never know exactly why he decided to create that particular pairing of coins. Possibly just having a little fun with his milling machine. There are countless "magician's coins" around. One type is hollowed out, so that it can hold a small amount of cocain. Others are simply used as trick coins.
You can also see the edge of the inner coin under sufficient magnification. These are called "magician's coins", and are readily available in magic shops and tourist stores for a few bucks as two-headed or two-tailed coins. The variation of using a foreign coin for one side is less common, but still not worth very much. Click here for one of the 365,000 Google hits on "two headed coin".
