The coin thread--post pictures of your traditional knives with a coin

[CuzDoug85]

 

[Jolipapa]

 

[Pt-Luso]

 

[SlipjointPolitiburo]

 

[btb01]

 

[Will Power]

 

[Rhinofly]

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That penny reminded me that I recently picked up an 1887 Double Florin. I was visiting the British Museum, and there is a coin shop right across the street. I had been looking for a problem-free uncirculated example and they had one, so I picked it up as a souvenir of the trip. Double Florin is such a weird denomination. They may not have been popular in their day, but I dig the Jubilee coinage. Here it is with a Queen Classic 1L in redstag.

 

[Will Power]

R Rhinofly Very interesting , I think the Double Florin (Four Shillings or 20p in decimal money) may have been part of an interminably slow move by the British to reform their bizarre non decimal money system-which endured until 1971!

It started in 1849 with the introduction of the Florin 2 Shillings as one tenth of a Pound. I would very much like a GVF - EF grade 1849 'Godless Florin' which omitted 'dei gratia' much to the outrage of churchmen and other fogeys Subsequent years included it and had the date not in Arabic but Roman numerals, the coin was slightly bigger too. Both have the wonderful 'Gothic head' bust of Victoria. Your Double Florin has the 'Veiled Head' bust which gave way to 'Old Head' coins after 1893. Interestingly, copper coinage including the Penny I showed still retained the flattering Young Head or 'Bun' bust until 1894!

British coins were large and I suspect one reason the Double Florin never continued was its size, the Penny d I showed remained unchanged in size until the new decimal coinage appeared in 1971! At age 10 I wanted to be a numismatist or curator, then things happened....

 

[paulhilborn]

Barrett!!! everything is cool in this picture, of course the knives but I have NEVER seen that Nuetron Dime before and I fancy myself a bit of a currency nerd

 

[Rhinofly]

R Rhinofly Very interesting , I think the Double Florin (Four Shillings or 20p in decimal money) may have been part of an interminably slow move by the British to reform their bizarre non decimal money system-which endured until 1971!

It started in 1849 with the introduction of the Florin 2 Shillings as one tenth of a Pound. I would very much like a GVF - EF grade 1849 'Godless Florin' which omitted 'dei gratia' much to the outrage of churchmen and other fogeys Subsequent years included it and had the date not in Arabic but Roman numerals, the coin was slightly bigger too. Both have the wonderful 'Gothic head' bust of Victoria. Your Double Florin has the 'Veiled Head' bust which gave way to 'Old Head' coins after 1893. Interestingly, copper coinage including the Penny I showed still retained the flattering Young Head or 'Bun' bust until 1894!

British coins were large and I suspect one reason the Double Florin never continued was its size, the Penny d I showed remained unchanged in size until the new decimal coinage appeared in 1971! At age 10 I wanted to be a numismatist or curator, then things happened....

View attachment 2675227

I completely agree about the Gothic Florin. The Gothic Crown has long been one of my favorite coins. Sadly, they did not make a 1/2C version.

 

[btb01]

Barrett!!! everything is cool in this picture, of course the knives but I have NEVER seen that Nuetron Dime before and I fancy myself a bit of a currency nerd

Thanks, Paul! I’m not really a coin/currency collector, but I do like weird/unusual stuff, and I after seeing one of those somewhere recently, I had to have one.

There’s some info on the museum it came from and their “Dime Irradiator” here:

Irradiated Dimes (1950s, 1960s)

And here’s the condensed version, from a 1950s press release.

One of the most popular exhibits in the American Museum of Atomic Energy is a "dime irradiator." To date, more than 250,000 dimes have been irradiated, encased in plastic and returned to their owners as souvenirs. The irradiator works as follows: A mixture of radioactive antimony and beryllium is enclosed in a lead container. Gamma rays from the antimony are absorbed by the beryllium atoms and a neutron is expelled by the beryllium atom in the process.

These neutrons, having no electrical charge, penetrate silver atoms in the dime. Instead of remaining normal silver-109, they become radioactive silver-110. After irradiation, the dime is dropped out through a slot in the lead container and rests momentarily before a Geiger tube so that its radioactivity may be demonstrated. It is then encased in the souvenir container. Radioactive silver, with a half-life of 22 seconds, decays rapidly to cadmium-110 (In 22 seconds, half of the radioactivity in each dime is gone, in another 22 seconds half the remainder goes, and so on until all the silver-110 has become cadmium). Only an exceedingly minute fraction of the silver atoms have been made radioactive.

 

[No Middle Name]

HAHAA..........

 

[rddp]

 

[rddp]

View attachment 2655909

Cool nickel !! Cooler knives !!!

 

[paulhilborn]

Thanks, Paul! I’m not really a coin/currency collector, but I do like weird/unusual stuff, and I after seeing one of those somewhere recently, I had to have one.

There’s some info on the museum it came from and their “Dime Irradiator” here:

Irradiated Dimes (1950s, 1960s)

And here’s the condensed version, from a 1950s press release.

One of the most popular exhibits in the American Museum of Atomic Energy is a "dime irradiator." To date, more than 250,000 dimes have been irradiated, encased in plastic and returned to their owners as souvenirs. The irradiator works as follows: A mixture of radioactive antimony and beryllium is enclosed in a lead container. Gamma rays from the antimony are absorbed by the beryllium atoms and a neutron is expelled by the beryllium atom in the process.

These neutrons, having no electrical charge, penetrate silver atoms in the dime. Instead of remaining normal silver-109, they become radioactive silver-110. After irradiation, the dime is dropped out through a slot in the lead container and rests momentarily before a Geiger tube so that its radioactivity may be demonstrated. It is then encased in the souvenir container. Radioactive silver, with a half-life of 22 seconds, decays rapidly to cadmium-110 (In 22 seconds, half of the radioactivity in each dime is gone, in another 22 seconds half the remainder goes, and so on until all the silver-110 has become cadmium). Only an exceedingly minute fraction of the silver atoms have been made radioactive.

Barrett, I thought that coin was so cool I googled and saw that exact article. I then went in search of and have a couple on the way

 

[btb01]

Barrett, I thought that coin was so cool I googled and saw that exact article. I then went in search of and have a couple on the way

Good stuff, Paul! I’ve got another one on the way, too, with a Mercury dime. (That’s really what I was hoping for when I first found out about these, but the Roosevelt was the first one I found in good shape and for what seemed like a pretty good deal, so I got that first.)

 

[Pt-Luso]

 

[Pt-Luso]

 

[Pt-Luso]

 

[Will Power]

Pt-Luso Love that Hubertus, great looking Stag, nice DMs too. I think it a pity many European nations have lost their currency to the € especially now that it's worth a lot less than it used to be OK it makes some things easier but I liked different coins and money when I travelled.