Expert: Jim Lawniczak - 7/10/2008

Question
I came upon a coin that is copper and tales on one side with the other side looking like a dime also with tales on that side it is about the size of a dime. Is it worth anything?

Answer
Pat, it is impossible to tell for sure what you have without seeing it.  However, a likely possibility is that you may have a magician's coin, where two coins are put together.  To do that, one half of a coin, say a dime is hollowed out and the other coin here possibly a cent that probably has to be filed down to fit is put in.  If that happened there should be a very noticeable seam where the two meet on the edge -- easily noticeable here where the cent is not reeded on the edge while the dime is.  Is the dime side also copper colored?  If so and there is no seam, then it is possible you might have a very rare and valuable error, where the mint by mistake (or more like on purpose by a mischievous mint employee) used a dime die with a cent die to make the piece.  To verify that you would have to show the piece to an expert.  Hope this helped, Jim Lawniczak