I finally found a magicians half dollar!

[clovis97]

I finally found a magician's half dollar!

Talk about a double take!!!

I was searching yet another skunk half box tonight. I always date check my halves, and flipped this coin over in my hands to read the date on the obverse.



I didn't find a date, but another reverse!!!!

My first thought was that it was a magician's coin, but it looked and felt so real! The next thought that entered my mind was that I might have stumbled on the one in a billion Mint error....a vacation?....a new black Cadillac CTS? Hmmm.

It didn't sound right when I did a drop test. The sound was close, but not exact.

As BuffaloBoy suggested, I put the half in the freezer for 20 minutes. Then, I dropped it into an antique blue one quart Ball jar. After a few shakes, I could see two pieces of coin.

There goes the Montana vacation and a 2012 Cadillac. I'll call Bob Poynter's GM World and tell them to cancel the order for the new CTS.

I did not know that these coins looked and felt so real. They appear to have been machined out of two real halves. I thought they would be cheap Chinese knock-offs made from lightweight, stamped sheet metal.

I think I have found a few of these before, but didn't know it. I'm not sure that I'll ever quickly recognize a magician's coin unless it is really obvious, like this double reverse.

 

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[Bigheed]

Re: I finally found a magician's half dollar!

congrats on the find!

in my experience they look and feel real but the sound is way off when you are sliding them out of the roll / tossing them in the bag, I've found 3 whole ones and pieces of maybe 10 so far.

Only 1 of them that is actually in good condition, the rest all fall apart to easily so it looks like you found one in good condition!

HH
Bigheed

 

[SilverFace]

Re: I finally found a magician's half dollar!

I found one of those last year too. I probably had to do a triple take before I realised the coin didn't have a date.

 

[GEOFF]

Re: I finally found a magician's half dollar!

Was anything inside the magician's coin?

 

[clovis97]

Re: I finally found a magician's half dollar!

Was anything inside the magician's coin?

Unfortunately not. I was hoping to find a Merc.

 

[clovis97]

Re: I finally found a magician's half dollar!

congrats on the find!

in my experience they look and feel real but the sound is way off when you are sliding them out of the roll / tossing them in the bag, I've found 3 whole ones and pieces of maybe 10 so far.

Only 1 of them that is actually in good condition, the rest all fall apart to easily so it looks like you found one in good condition!

HH
Bigheed

Well, actually it isn't in that great of condition.

These reverses have obviously been made from 1995 or later halves. Both sides have the shallow relief that we see on the '95 and later halves...not the deep stamped reliefs found on earlier Kennedy's.

This coin, both sides, shows lots of post-Mint circulation wear. I'm guessing that whoever makes these trick coins is buying halves from the bank by the box, and machining them.

I also see traces of what appears to be white glue on the inside of the coin. I think someone tried to glue it together at some point. You've got to press this one together just right to get it to stick.

I think I am going to have a lot of fun with this coin, being a double reverse. I think my little one will enjoy taking it to school to amaze her friends.

 

[mts]

Re: I finally found a magician's half dollar!

They aren't that terribly hard to make actually. But it takes special equipment to make one that is hard to spot. I made one last year using a demmel tool that will pass for real if you don't examine it too closely. But if you look hard enough you can tell that it is two pieces glued together. It took me about three hours and probably wasn't worth the effort. But I just wanted to see how well I could make it look. The result was decent enough for my kids.

As others have said, the dead giveaway is the sound it makes when you drop it. It sounds like platic or pot metal.

 

[skelly9131]

Re: I finally found a magician's half dollar!

I've actually found quite a few of these. However, yesterday I actually found a hollow 1967 that looked just like a normal silver 40%er. It also sounds a bit different than the other magicians coins I've found. Does anyone know if this might be silver?