Large Cent?

Garabaldi · May 23, 2010

This at one time was a large cent I believe possibly turned into a cookie or dough cutter. You can see ONE near the center of the circle. Could you tell if it was a flowing hair large cent? Any ideas what this coin was turned into or if it was a coin? :dontknow:

DirtyMike · May 23, 2010

Its a spur rowel. I have seen somewhere once where a small silver coin was found still attached to the spur. It was grooved and had a hole in the middle like yours.

Breezie · May 24, 2010

DirtyMike said:
Its a spur rowel. I have seen somewhere once where a small silver coin was found still attached to the spur. It was grooved and had a hole in the middle like yours.

Spot on DMike! :thumbsup:

Another interesting find G, Breezie

Bigcypresshunter · May 24, 2010

DirtyMike said:
Its a spur rowel. I have seen somewhere once where a small silver coin was found still attached to the spur. It was grooved and had a hole in the middle like yours.

That cool G.

Heres another. http://www.flickr.com/photos/coinbooks/2680676599/

boondocker · May 24, 2010

Gary, thats just to cool, what an awsome find. Dean

Garabaldi · May 24, 2010

boondocker said:
Gary, thats just to cool, what an awsome find. Dean

Thank you boondocker and everyone else for the comments.

Thanks Mike D. for the ID. :icon_thumleft:

I forgot to tell you all that boondocker was nice enough to invite me to his neck of the woods to detect. :notworthy:

We both typically detect alone, but it was nice to detect with a partner for a change. We bothe belong to the same detecting club also. :icon_thumleft:

Tuberale · May 25, 2010

An early-day button. A hole would be drilled into a penny to create a button. A piece of thread (or leather or sinew) would be fastened to the cloth underneath, and wrapped around a twig or piece of wood, before being put back thru the hole and tied off on the other side of the fabric. Metal was difficult to obtain in early America, and every piece had to be used and re-used. Sometimes it made more sense to use cents than to wait for a button. BTW, some of the original large cents were created from copper packing straps, used to secure shipping crates. Even the coins made from these straps were rare in early America, and the US suffered from a lack of coinage for so long that it was necessary to use many other nation's currency, such as Netherlands, Spain, Mexico, Canada and Irish coins. That's also how some of the early colonial tokens got their start: IOU's that the issuer would later guarantee rare coinage for.

RPG · May 25, 2010

Nice find. But, I'm not sure this is solved. That thing wouldn't work very well as a spur rowel. Be like kicking your horse with your boot heel. The grooves, or teeth, are not long enough. Rowels have long teeth to get horses attention. This one has very short teeth and a lot of them. I sure wish one of the UK guys would chime in. It sure looks like one of the pastry jiggers they dig on that side of the pond. :icon_scratch:

Bigcypresshunter · May 25, 2010

Could it be some kind of homeade spinning toy?

Garabaldi · May 25, 2010

RPG said:
Nice find. But, I'm not sure this is solved. That thing wouldn't work very well as a spur rowel. Be like kicking your horse with your boot heel. The grooves, or teeth, are not long enough. Rowels have long teeth to get horses attention. This one has very short teeth and a lot of them. I sure wish one of the UK guys would chime in. It sure looks like one of the pastry jiggers they dig on that side of the pond.

I agree, I thought it was a dough cutter as soon as I found it. I had found one in England when I was over there. I am taking the green check off. :wink: