Is this some kind of counter stamped counterfeit coin?

[cam9457]

I found this coin/thing in an area of Pa that dates back to the 1600's. I have no idea what it is. It appears to me to be a coin that was struck all kinds of wrong or just a piece of metal. It looks like if it was supposed to be a coin the edge appears to be struck about half way through. I can see the letter I on what maybe should have been the outer edge of the coin. Any ideas?

 

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[doublet2a]

Looks like a penny that was met by a train.


Tim

 

[dex378]

Beat me to it, we used to put pennies on the tracks when we were kids.

 

[mistergee]

sorry...doesnt look like the ones i used to put on the trolley tracks....especially with the rim in the top center of the coin...im no expert but it seems to be some sort of error...saw something similar somewhere...

 

[cam9457]

Beat me to it, we used to put pennies on the tracks when we were kids.

Looks like a penny that was met by a train.


Tim

LOL, well I can sure see how it resembles a squished coin at first. I was a conductor on a freight train for a good number of years up until recently and and spent a good deal of my first year of train service squishing pennies and other coins(among many other things laying around when I got board). This is definetly not one of those, does look like one at first though. I am leaning toward maybe some type of colonial or old coin that was just misstruck or something

 

[Don in SJ]

Perhaps it was a worn out old copper that someone hammered another coin onto it, I flipped the photograph, since if that was done the lettering would be backwards, there does appear to be lettering, so maybe someone did hammer a coin or token on top of this worn out old copper piece.

Photographed is flipped and put into a negative view for a different perspective on it.

Don

 

[DD-777]

Definitely looks like an I and N stamped here (first pic - circled) - IN GOD WE TRUST (?)

Second pic - circled area looks like where the off center strike occurred (circled).

Looks like it would be pretty tough to determine exactly what kind of coin it is, but I'd say definitely a coin.

 

[cam9457]

Very cool way to adjust the pic Don, makes what little is there clearer to see. I thought the shape was strange as well, far from perfectly round. I don't know much about modern or older coin making process but I would think modern planchets this far out of round would be rejected well before they got to the die? I guess there are a lot of possibilities. I'll take some more pictures of it tomorrow and try to make out what is on the coin

 

[DD-777]

What are the odds of this being an actual mis-struck colonial copper or possibly earlier? Just because we might think it's not, doesn't mean it isn't. Might be worth getting checked out...

 

[cam9457]

I'm not sure DD, the area I found it in had heavy revolutionary war fighting and there was a tavern adjacent to where I found it from 16?? to around 1850 or so. I'm pretty stumped with it

 

[badoscar]

The penny was sitting on or under another coin when the train met it.
I did this when I was a young lad and remember seeing similar marks
then.

 

[mistergee]

The penny was sitting on or under another coin when the train met it.
I did this when I was a young lad and remember seeing similar marks
then.

me too but that doesnt explain the shape...mine were always elongated

 

[DD-777]

Definitely looks like an I and N stamped here (first pic - circled) - IN GOD WE TRUST (?)

Second pic - circled area looks like where the off center strike occurred (circled).

Looks like it would be pretty tough to determine exactly what kind of coin it is, but I'd say definitely a coin.

Guess it would help if I put up the pics (duh )

 

[DD-777]

The penny was sitting on or under another coin when the train met it.
I did this when I was a young lad and remember seeing similar marks
then.

me too but that doesnt explain the shape...mine were always elongated

Exactly...

 

[cam9457]

I can't say for sure that it's not a train squish coin with or without another coin on top of it because I wasn't there when this piece of metal was formed but when I say I've run over all kinds of coins, metal, cars, milk trucks, living things....I'm not kidding. I've been a conductor for Norfolk Southern RR for over three years until last week when I changed postions. I have made hundreds maybe thousands of flattened train coins, I've done singles, doubles and even triple coin squashes(yes, sitting on a siding for ten hours at a time with a freight train can make a bored conductor and engineer do some crazy things). This does look similar but the metal is a uniform thickness all the way through, the head(top side of the rail) and the part of the wheel of a rail vehicle that contacts the rail are not flat. Again, I can't say 100% that this is not a double stack train squish coin but I'm strongly leaning away from it. I'll get some better pics up latter. Thank you everybody for all the help so far

 

[badoscar]

Hey Cam'
Your knowledge and experience...and hands on experiments are greatly appreciated. Must be a fun job.
However I must ask you at what speed were you doing these flattining tests.

 

[cam9457]

Depends, If I just had lite power(just engines) maybe 1/8 to 1mph just moving my engines back and forth. Other times if I was sitting on a siding waiting for another train to pass on the track next to me and laying the coins on that track, those trains may have been moving anywhere from 5-60mph

 

[mistergee]

what type of metal is it ....are you assuming its copper or could it be some other metal a penny or some other coin was pressed on top of? perhaps you could weigh it and maybe one of the experts can throw in their 2 cents...try and post it in the coins forum where more knowledgeable people on coins frequent......