Expert: PAPAJACK - 6/6/2008

Question
I own a penny that has been stamped with a tail on each side, therefore having no head on one side. It is in farely good condition and i would like to know if has any value at all. Thank you for your time.

Answer
Hello Craig,                     

I just saw you question put into the question pool for anyone to answer.
This is a very common question I have been asked a number of times in the past.   

They are not acollectors item, not rare and it is not an error coin. I have experience with these coins and have seen them in Quarters, Half Dollars and Nickels. (I guess it’s the thickness that aides in the making of them). These two headed, or Two Tailed coins are Trick coins, sometimes called Magicians Coins.

All the ones I have come across are machined out on one side carefully keeping the reeded edge intact, while another coin is thinned and slightly reduced in diameter to remove the reeded edge. The smaller and thinner half is then placed in the hollowed out half coin.

Look with a good magnifier and light source, where the lower field on one side of the coin, meets up to the reeded edge. They can be force fit or glued together. Another check is weight; an actual One Cent coin blank weighs 3.11 grams before 1982 and 2.5 grams after 1982.

Sometimes done as a novelty to sell, to fool people on a coin toss, or a machinist apprentice fooling around. I have also heard of them being sawed in half and glued together, but the sawed ones are easier to detect.

They may sell for .50 cents and up to $2 dollars in a shop. Again they are not rare, and are not in demand by coin collectors.

The modern process the US Mint uses makes it virtually impossible for an HEADS (obverse) die to be matched with anything but a TAILS (reverse) die in the presses used to stamp out coins.

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Thank You and Good Luck

PapaJack