Expert: Joe Hylas - 2/20/2008

Question
QUESTION: I have a 50 cent coin that comes apart and there is some sort of Spanish coin on the inside, have you ever seen this? Jon

ANSWER: I have seen coins similar, they are normally sold in magic shops.  This is a take off of an old design used in the 1800's.  Silver dollar size coins were hollowed out and hinged.  They were known as opium dollars because opium was stored in them and also smuggled in this manner.
I hope this helps,
Regards
Joe Hylas
www.AllCoins.US

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Can I e-mail you a picture of the coin so you can see it? It just makes me wonder how they accomplished this with the tooling they had back then, the coin is from the year 1971. Could the coin be worth anything. Thank you very much for the info so far. Jon

Answer
Hi Jon,
You can send a picture, but honestly, I seen these items before.
I've seen dollar coins that had invisible hinges, ones that slid open like a magic box and ones that sinply had 2 halves that fit so well together that the only noticeable difference was the weight.
You have to remember that watchmakers and jewelers are used to delicate, intricate work.
One of the biggest espionage acts during WW2 occured using a hollow nickel that had microfilm in it.  The nickel was deposited in a lamppost in NY's Central Park and later picked up by a courrier!  I believe the spy's name was Rosenberg.
Regards
Joe Hylas