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What The Heck? Copper Counterfeit Merc Dime?

PrussianBleu

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 5, 2019
Messages
308
Location
Kenosha, WI
So this one is a stumper. The consensus when I found it is that it was a fire damaged Mercury dime. It certainly is the right size and it certainly looks like the fasces on the back like a Merc; however when I got it back home, things started to not add up. It is most definitely copper, and as you can see from the comparison pictures, it seems like the entire design is flipped or mirrored.

I would most definitely appreciate suggestions as to what we have here! :mder:
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Yeah, I see the similarity you mention, but comparing closely, it doesn't quite match, and the other side has no discernable detail I can see. Corroded zincoln?
 
Yeah, I see the similarity you mention, but comparing closely, it doesn't match, and the other side has no discernable detail I can see. Corroded zincoln?
It rings up a little higher than a Zincoln, 12.43 on the CTX. I thought it was going to be a Copper Memorial on the surface. I took off a little material around the edges and it definitely is copper all the way through.
 
Just for the hell of it..

I reversed the coin in question, and did some editing to the other as well..
 

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Since it is reversed, I would say the copper coin had the mercury dime on it. The melting point of silver is lower than copper. If it melted onto the penny, it would give the reversed look to it. Cant really tell about the face side, I cant make out any detail. Just a wild guess though
 
Perhaps it's not a coin at all? Maybe a small copper button or pin of some type? The line on the back may have been where the clasp was attached and you can barely see a shadow of what may have been the pin. I have found a few micro sized commemorative pins of that size this from the early 1900s. Mostly union pins from the auto industry, and a few from the railroads.
 
If that is a fasces on the back, it could be an Italian coin of the Mussolini era.

Just a guess,

-- Tom
 
Just a thought. I found a magician’s dime/wheat once. They somehow melt/ glue a merc to a wheat. It was seemless.
When I took it to my coin guy, I thought I had an “error” coin but he said it was a magicians and brought out several to show me.
Now if that coin was in a fire or buried in “bad” soil for a long time.........
 
This guy has a couple of pictures of fascist Italian coins on his blog. Did not check if they were the right metal or size, but the design on some is similar to the merc.

https://shinymetaldisc.wordpress.com/2016/09/23/the-coinage-of-fascist-italy/

I do not believe they are a match. I looked them up in my world coin book at it seems they are very rare, and were only minted in gold, but I could have missed something.
 
Since it is reversed, I would say the copper coin had the mercury dime on it. The melting point of silver is lower than copper. If it melted onto the penny, it would give the reversed look to it. Cant really tell about the face side, I cant make out any detail. Just a wild guess though

If that were the case, wouldn't one coin's surface be intaglio? Both coins have the designs in relief.
 
Looks like a Mercury dime was attached to a copper backing as a form of decoration. Lost, it corroded, with corrosion taking place at different rates due to spacing, similar to when you find two coins stuck together. The result would be what you are seeing. Low surface would allow more moisture in and higher corrosion, where the high areas of the dime would limit moisture intrusion, hence the slower rate. A pin or tie tack perhaps?
 
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