Half Half Dime

DirtDigler · Apr 21, 2011

Found this one a little while back. Yes... it's a pity it's clipped, but at the same time, how many do you see that are halfed like this? Those in the know will be able to figure out the date, even with only an '8' showing. Because of he variant, it's got to be one of two dates.

artzstuff1 · Apr 21, 2011

Thats a shame ,, but I wonder what they used back then to cut a coin like that!!! :icon_scratch:

Awsome find for sure!!! :headbang:

umrgolf · Apr 21, 2011

artzstuff1 said:
Thats a shame ,, but I wonder what they used back then to cut a coin like that!!!

Awsome find for sure!!!

cool find, DD .. they used shears to cut them, my guess would be '48, the earlier of the two.

hmm is that the '38?

AMorgan · Apr 21, 2011

1838

no drapery there.

umrgolf · Apr 21, 2011

AMorgan said:
1838 no drapery there.

good catch.. had to google that one :laughing7:

mobile miner · Apr 21, 2011

It appears that the cut is jagged. Probably not cut with shears or chisel. Maybe bent back and forth but no plier marks. Might be something other than silver. :icon_scratch:

Nice find anyway.

umrgolf · Apr 21, 2011

mobile miner said:
It appears that the cut is jagged. Probably not cut with shears or chisel. Maybe bent back and forth but no plier marks. Might be something other than silver. Nice find anyway.

You could be right, the majority were cut with shears but this one is pretty jagged.. I've seen a couple others recently that were kinda rough.

http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,391841.0.html

I found this one last year that's pretty rough

West Jersey Detecting · Apr 21, 2011

More likely cut by a plow.

umrgolf · Apr 21, 2011

Neil in West Jersey said:
More likely cut by a plow.

100% intentionally halved

Michellets · Apr 21, 2011

That makes it a 2 1/2 cent piece :icon_thumright:

I've never seen one posted before.... very rare!!!! I vote Banner!!!!!! HH M

kuger · Apr 21, 2011

umrgolf said:
Neil in West Jersey said:

More likely cut by a plow.

Click to expand...

100% intentionally halved

I would agree,
I could see a lawn mower cutting it but a plow

?No way.Do you know how small a Half dime is?

umrgolf · Apr 21, 2011

kuger said:
umrgolf said:

Neil in West Jersey said:

More likely cut by a plow.

Click to expand...

100% intentionally halved

Click to expand...

I would agree,
I could see a lawn mower cutting it but a plow?No way.Do you know how small a Half dime is?

right, if you look at the 2nd pic of the reverse, you'll see that's its cut in a nearly perfect line, halving the coin.. It only appears crooked because the top corner is bent in.. you'll see a shadow on the top portion of the coin where the bend is located

silverfinder · Apr 21, 2011

When this coin was issued, Spanish coinage was still legal tender; this was true until 1857. The piece of eight (8 reals) was more common than the U.S. silver dollar and actually had a higher silver content, although both coins were used pretty much interchangeably. The Spanish reale (one bit) was worth 12 1/2 cents, and therefore the half cent was part of U.S. coinage from the 1790s until 1857, its discontinuation coinciding with the discontinuation of the use of Spanish coinage, when the half cent became unnecessary. The cut half dime, used with a whole dime, would have been worth one Spanish reale. By 1857, there was a sufficient supply of U.S.-minted coinage to make the use of foreign coins unnecessary. Prior to 1857, the mints were unable to meet the demand for domestic coinage.

FingerGrime · Apr 21, 2011

Nice find!
I found a two and a half cent piece too. It was a half nickel though.

DirtDigler · Apr 22, 2011

A friend of mine found another half half dime in the Seven Days battle area a couple weeks ago. His is also rough edged. I think the slight bend was caused by the shearing. Sheet metal does the same thing as you cut it with shears.

steelheadwill · Apr 22, 2011

Great Find! Congrats :hello2:

In photo 2, the cut edge looks recent, :icon_scratch:

Maybe just the lighting.

DirtDigler · Apr 22, 2011

Yup, it's the lighting. When I initially dug it up I thought, "OMG! I've shovel-cut the thing in half! Beeped the hole again looking for the other half. Then I saw how dirty the edge was and realized that it had been cut long ago.

MUD(S.W.A.T) · Apr 22, 2011

Heh,

This is cool, 8) a cut coin is high on my list!! :icon_thumleft:

This was not done by a lawn mower or plow. :icon_scratch:

This was done by hand to make change no doubt.... :headbang:

Its to strate of a cut to clean although jagged its clean. :dontknow:

Awesome find !! :notworthy:

Keep @ it and HH !!

oldschool · Apr 22, 2011

neat find,I had trouble finding my half dime in the hole and it wasent cut in half.
WTG Randy

l.cutler · Apr 22, 2011

Yeah, no way a plow could do that! Often coins with a deep cut are posted as hit by a plow, but I don't see that happening either. The tip of a plow is way too broad and blunt to do cut a into a coin. Sometimes coins were cut and made into rifle sights, could be the leftover half, who knows.