Numisdex

Happy Halloween!

A kingdom's coins, struck by the U.S. Mint, sued over by its own businessmen, and melted by Congress. Hawaii's silver dollar in about a minute. #Numismatics #Hawaii numisdex.community/this-week…

Before Hawaii was a state, it had its own silver dollar, with King Kalākaua on it. The U.S. Mint's chief engraver, Charles Barber, designed the 1883 coins and the San Francisco Mint struck them. Business leaders sued to stop them (and lost). After annexation they stopped being money in 1904 and most were melted: of 500,000 dollars, about 46,000 survived. Look it up, then save it 👉 numisdex.community/this-week #Numismatics #Hawaii

The coin everyone calls the Mercury dime was never meant to be Mercury, and its first batch had a rim that jammed coin machines. The real name and the rough start, in about a minute. #Numismatics #MercuryDime numisdex.community/this-week…

The Mercury dime isn't Mercury. Adolph Weinman's 1916 design is Lady Liberty in a winged cap, and he said the wings stood for "liberty of thought." People saw a winged head, thought of the messenger god, and the nickname stuck for over a century. The key date is the 1916-D: Denver made only 264,000. Look it up, then save it 👉 numisdex.community/this-week #Numismatics #MercuryDime

Blue jeans are going on a dollar coin. Nevada's 2027 American Innovation $1 honors copper-riveted work pants, patented in 1873 by a Reno tailor and Levi Strauss. The two federal design panels didn't agree on the design, though. One picked a worker with a hammer, the other a jeans pocket that scored 12 of 24. They split on Oregon too, and agreed on Kansas and West Virginia. #Numismatics #CoinDesign

Blue jeans are going on a dollar coin. Nevada's 2027 American Innovation $1 honors copper-riveted work pants, patented in 1873 by a Reno tailor and Levi Strauss. The two federal design panels couldn't agree on which design, though. One picked a worker with a hammer, the other a jeans pocket. They also split on Oregon, but agreed on Kansas and West Virginia. Look it up, then save it 👉 numisdex.community/this-week #Numismatics #CoinCollecting

During WWII the U.S. made nickels with no nickel in them: 56% copper, 35% silver, 9% manganese. To flag them, the Mint put a big mint mark above Monticello, and for the first time ever Philadelphia got one. A big P. The plan was to pull them all back after the war. And a 1944 with no mint mark up there is a Henning nickel, a famous 1950s fake. Collectors want those, so don't toss it. #Numismatics #WarNickel numisdex.community/this-week…

During WWII the U.S. made nickels with no nickel in them: 56% copper, 35% silver, 9% manganese. To flag them, the Mint put a big mint mark above Monticello, and for the first time ever Philadelphia got one too. A big P. The plan was to pull them all back after the war. Look it up, then save it 👉 numisdex.community/this-week #Numismatics #CoinCollecting

This 1893 Indian Head cent has a die clash on both sides. In front of Liberty's forehead there's the C from CENT, pressed in from the reverse. The wreath's outline runs through the feathers, and on the back her profile sits beside the O in ONE. Two 1893 clashes are already listed. This is a different die pair, so we catalogued it. #CoinErrors #IndianHeadCent numisdex.community/this-week…

This 1893 Indian Head cent has a die clash on both sides. Front: the C from CENT in front of Liberty's forehead, and the wreath running through the feathers. Back: the outline of her face beside the O in ONE. Two 1893 clashes are already listed. This is a different die pair. So we catalogued it. Look it up, then save it 👉 numisdex.community/this-week #CoinErrors #Numismatics

That old penny with wood grain on it isn't toning. Collectors call it a woodie. The copper, tin and zinc weren't fully mixed before the metal was rolled out, so it came out streaky. The tell: the streaks run in bands through the metal, on both sides. Toning sits on the surface in random spots. This one's a 1914-D, a key date with the grain built right in. #CoinErrors #WheatPenny numisdex.community/this-week…

That old penny with wood grain on it isn't toning. Collectors call it a woodie: the copper, tin and zinc weren't fully mixed before the metal was rolled out, so it came out streaky. The tell is bands that run through the metal, on both sides. Toning sits on the surface in random spots. Look it up, then save it 👉 numisdex.community/this-week #CoinErrors #Numismatics

The first coin the U.S. ever approved says "Mind Your Business." It's not telling you to butt out. It sits under a sundial and the word FUGIO, Latin for "I fly," so it reads more like: time's moving, get to work. Congress approved it in 1787, before the Mint even existed. And a keg of them went into the Bank of New York in 1788, got repacked in 1856, then sat forgotten until 1926. #NumisDex #ColonialCoins numisdex.community/this-week…

The first coin the United States ever approved says "Mind Your Business." It's not telling you to butt out. Next to a sundial and the word FUGIO ("I fly," as in time flies), it reads more like: time's moving, get to work. Congress approved it in 1787, before the Mint existed. And a keg of these went into the Bank of New York in 1788. It was repacked in 1856, then forgotten until 1926. Look it up, then save it 👉 numisdex.community/this-week #Numismatics #ColonialCoins

Two-hundred seventy million Morgan dollars were melted down on purpose. Here's the wild part: it's how we got the Peace dollar. In 1918, Britain needed silver to back its currency in India during WWI. Congress passed the Pittman Act, letting the government melt and sell those dollars as bullion. But there was a catch—every melted dollar had to be replaced. So the Mint re-coined them all, bringing back the Morgan in 1921, then launching the Peace dollar that same year. A wartime shortage became numismatic history. Fascinating stuff. numisdex.community/this-week…

In 1918 the U.S. melted ~270 million of its own silver dollars. On purpose. Britain needed the silver to back its money in India during WWI, and most of the melted coins were Morgans. But the law made the Mint re-coin every one, which brought the Morgan back in 1921 and then gave us the Peace dollar. A meltdown is a big reason the Peace dollar exists. numisdex.community/news/the-… #Numismatics #MorganDollar

This 1918-S Lincoln cent has a rim cud that's already in the books. It matches the Cuds on Coins CU-1C-1918S-01R die: a raised bump right in the rim at about 2:30. The part that isn't documented is lower down. Between 3 and 4 o'clock there's a pre-cud, a heavy die crack where a piece of the die started to break loose. The reference coin is too worn to show it, so either that die had it all along or this is a later die state. We catalogued it on NumisDex. #NumisDex #ErrorCoins numisdex.community/this-week…