Expert: Jim Lawniczak - 7/9/2007

Question
I currently found a quarter that had "heads" imprinted on both sides. The weight of the quarter is the same as a regular quarter and all signs point to the fact that it was just a bad print. How would I go about checking to see if it is a mis-print and how could I get it appraised?

Answer
Hello, Lane, you almost certainly have a magician novelty piece, put together by taking two hollowed out quarters and putting them together.  There should be a seam on the rim where they were joined.  Go to www.ebay.com and do a search for double headed coin or magician coin and you should see some selling.  If you do have a mint made double headed quarter (and until recently, people thought that was impossible, but apparently there have been one or two authenticated), then it would be extremely valuable.  Only a very experienced authenticator could tell you for sure.  Jim Lawniczak