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JOHN PINCHES TWO-HEADED MORGAN DOLLARSWeb site reader Tree Sturman asked about "a two-headed nickel copper Morgan Dollar coin dated 1879." His piece turned out to be a trick coin, but there do exist "real" examples - not from the U.S. Mint, but from John Pinches Ltd. in England. Here's a Numismatic News fun fact published August 13, 2018. -Editor Is it true there are unofficial two-headed strikes of the 1879 Morgan silver dollar? Unofficial is almost an understatement. John Pinches Ltd. in England produced transfer die two-headed 1879 silver dollars in copper and copper-nickel in an ill-fated effort to obtain a contract to strike U.S. coins commercially. Several examples later entered the coin collecting market through the 1947 auction of the John Harvey Pinches estate. To read the complete article, see:   Above are images of Tree's coin. Here's more from Dave Bowers' silver dollar encyclopedia. -Editor Two-Headed 1879 Morgan Dollars In or around the year 1879 the firm of John Pinches, Ltd., of England, desired to obtain a contract to strike United States coins on a commercial basis. Sample 1879-dated Morgan dollars were made up, consisting of two-headed coins. Apparently, Pinches had a very advanced technology for making transfer dies from existing coins, for the few known specimens struck from these dies are all very well struck and for all intents and purposes are as fine as the Philadelphia product. Strikings exist in copper and copper-nickel metals. Glendining's London Sale of the John Harvey Pinches estate, July 29, 1947 offered examples. Also see Stanislaw Herstal Sale (Bowers and Ruddy); Glendining Sale of Nov ember 18, 1987, Lot 109; Superior's Auction '88, Lot 237. The 1987 Glendining Sale offered two obverse dies and other items fitted into a case. (Information courtesy of Michael]. Hodder.) So - does anyone have images of these? Where are they today? Interesting item. -Editor To read the complete article, see:  Wayne Homren, Editor The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org. To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum All Rights Reserved. NBS Home Page Contact the NBS webmaster 
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