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I
have a two-headed coin. How much is it worth?
Well, it’s probably worth $1.95 plus postage. The coin is a
"magician’s coin" – a novelty item. One can order these from
the pages of novelty catalogs and magician’s magazines. "You’ll never
lose a coin toss with this coin," the ads read. Some kid or aspiring
magician accidentally spent his or her good luck charm and now you have
it.
If you look carefully, one of the sides of the coin has a seam near the
edge, just in front of the
rim. The host coin’s
reverse was carved out,
another coin’s obverse was removed and glued into the host coin.
Besides, two-headed or two-tailed coins are generally impossible, with one or two rare exceptions. Anyone uncertain as to whether his or her coin is genuine or altered should contact an authentication service.
Such altered items have no numismatic value.
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I
have a $5 Federal Reserve note with FW in the lower right corner on the
front. Are these someone’s initials?
The FW is a facility mark to indicate the note was printed at the
Bureau of Engraving and Printing’s Western Currency Facility in Fort
Worth, Texas.
Notes began to be produced there in 1991. FR notes printed before 1996
at the BEP’s Washington, D.C. plant have Washington, D.C. printed above
the green Treasury seal on the right hand side of the note.
All redesigned Series 1996 $100 and $50 FR notes were printed at the
BEP’s Washington plant but bear not designation as such. Series 1996 $20
FR notes were printed at both the Washington, D.C. and the Fort Worth
plants and those printed at Fort Worth have the FW mark.
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I found a U.S. coin with a Mint mark that the books say doesn't exist. Do I have a rare coin?
You're probably seeing a designer's initial or monogram rather than a Mint mark. New collectors often confuse the two, especially if they are unsure of what Mint marks and designers' initials represent.
A Mint mark is a letter or letters indicating what specific Mint struck a coin. For example, a coin struck at the Denver Mint will generally bear a D Mint mark.
A designer's initial or monogram is the "signature" of the artist who designed or engraved the model for the coin.
The United States Mint has used just seven different Mint marks on its coinage: P, for the Philadelphia Mint; D, for pre-Civil War 19th century gold coins struck at the Dahlonega Mint in Georgia, and for 20th and 21st century coins struck at the Denver Mint; S, for coins struck at the San Francisco Mint; O, for coins struck at the New Orleans Mint; C, for coins struck at the Charlotte Mint in North Carolina; CC, for coins struck at the Carson City Mint in Nevada; and W, for coins struck at the West Point Mint (just on collector coins; none for circulation).
While Mint mark varieties do exist, the U.S. Mint has never struck a coin bearing an unofficial Mint mark. Many coins do bear repunched/multiple Mint marks or Mint marks from two different Mints.
Not all coins have Mint marks. No U.S. coins had Mint marks until the late 1830s (until then, only one Mint existed). The Philadelphia Mint did not use the P Mint mark until the 20th century (briefly from 1942 to 1945 on Jefferson 5-cent coins; the P was reintroduced on the 1979-P Anthony dollar, and on all circulating coins struck at Philadelphia since 1980 except for the Lincoln cent). During the mid-1960s and again in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Mint marks were dropped from some or all coins for various reasons.
The designers of U.S. coins did not start signing their works until the mid-19th century, and even afterward, many coins were issued without any credit for their designers. The first signed coin was an 1836 silver dollar bearing the engraver's full last name, Gobrecht, although that recognition was removed after only a few trial pieces were produced. No other U.S. coins bear a full name.
Those coins that do bear the artist's signatures may bear a single initial, as on the Indian Head 5-cent coin/Buffalo nickel and American Buffalo silver dollar, which have an F on the obverse for James Earle Fraser; several initials, as with the F.G. on the reverse of the Lincoln cent with Memorial reverse, designed by Frank Gasparro; or a monogram, such as that appearing on the obverse of the Kennedy half dollar, designed by Gilroy Roberts.
If you see a "Mint mark" on a coin that doesn't belong there, there is a good chance that what you see is the designer's signature.
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