George V mystery piece

[translateltd]

A local colleague found this item in a junk tray- it has the bare head effigy of George V on both sides, with no sign of any legends having been effaced.  Die rotation is about 10°, as I've tried to represent with the composite photo.  Diameter is 22.5mm, which places it between a farthing and a halfpenny by my reckoning (but not the same as either).  Metal appears to be brass in real life, rather than bronze.  The bare head effigy suggests it's a homeland UK type rather than colonial, but I can't quite fathom it - why would a die trial (if that's what it is) be made in such an odd size, and with slightly misaligned dies?  There is also no sign of any seam to indicate two pieces having been joined.

Any thoughts most welcome.

[BC Numismatics]

Martin,
  This was definitely a product from testing the dies as to their coinability & striking quality.

I've seen a few of these turn up.

Aidan.

[bruce61813]

  Very interesting... It also appears to be two different portraits of George V. Is it about the size of a Penny ?

Bruce

[BC Numismatics]

Bruce,
  It is 1/2 Penny sized.

One of the portraits look like the King has more hair than on the other one.

Aidan.

[translateltd]

As I noted earlier, at 22.5 mm it's smaller than a halfpenny (25.4 mm) and bigger than a farthing (20 mm), so it doesn't match any of the bronze denominations at least.  It's also marginally too large for a sovereign die and marginally too small for shilling.  And the brassy alloy doesn't match anything used in the UK at the time.

[Figleaf]

Looks like a multi-purpose magician's coin to me. One simple trick you could do with this coin is to throw it up a number of times and it's always heads. Another possibility is to let a member of the public try to push a halfpenny through an opening that's too small. Take coin and cleverly exchange it for this piece. Catch it at the other end and change back for the halfpenny. Or show a halfpenny, change it unnoticed for this piece, show the legend somewhere else and claim it has fallen off the coin. If you are fast enough, people won't notice it's too small. They may not even notice the absence of the legend. It is highly unlikely to be a test coin, or it would have been much better preserved and of a "regular" size.

The die rotation is funny, though. Have you checked for a seam inside the edge? Or have you tried to unscrew it while not holding the edge, but only the obverse and reverse? Most "secret" cons date from an earlier period, but you never know.

Peter

[bruce61813]

Peter, it doesn't look like a magicians. Once upon a time I worked with stage magic, i wasn't interested in performing, but I made items for other magicians. It is a very interesting world, and I met several well known people, but that was 25 years ago. Here is and interesting Victoria Crown: The "crown" is the same diameter as a real crown, but half the thickness, and from a few feet away looks like a real crown, and with a good magician, even from a very close view, it would pass, with just a casual look. but it is funny when you really look at it.


Bruce

[translateltd]

Looks like a multi-purpose magician's coin to me. One simple trick you could do with this coin is to throw it up a number of times and it's always heads. Another possibility is to let a member of the public try to push a halfpenny through an opening that's too small. Take coin and cleverly exchange it for this piece. Catch it at the other end and change back for the halfpenny. Or show a halfpenny, change it unnoticed for this piece, show the legend somewhere else and claim it has fallen off the coin. If you are fast enough, people won't notice it's too small. They may not even notice the absence of the legend. It is highly unlikely to be a test coin, or it would have been much better preserved and of a "regular" size.

The die rotation is funny, though. Have you checked for a seam inside the edge? Or have you tried to unscrew it while not holding the edge, but only the obverse and reverse? Most "secret" cons date from an earlier period, but you never know.

Peter

There is no seam evident, either around the edge or inside the rim (I have a nice "box" penny and another concocted double-header that was carefully reamed out inside the rim so am familiar with the technique).  The question would still remain, what would it have been made *from*, even if it was intended to be a magician's coin?  It matches no coin that I know of in size, and the effigy looks authentic enough to have come from a proper Mint die rather than being a careful copy.

[bruce61813]

Why that size, I haven't a guess, but it does appear to be a trial of two portraits, to see what they would look like in real metal?

Bruce