MORE ON THE ENCASED HALF DIME MYSTERY

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V19 2016 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 19, Number 33, August 14, 2016, Article 8

MORE ON THE ENCASED HALF DIME MYSTERY

Kudos to E-Sylum reader Julia Purdy, who was the Treasurenet message board member credited in Steve Crain's original article about the unusual encased half dimes discussed last week. Steve and I convinced her to take a public bow.

Below is a link to the original item that kicked off Julia's search, a woman's yard sale find. The images of this piece do a better job of showing the shape and contours of the encasement, so I'm reproducing them here, along with the 1849 newspaper article Julia located. It's easy to see how these would nicely fit into the palm of a hand. -Editor

Found this at a yard sale yesterday. It appears to be a half dime set in lead, but I can't figure out why. I don't even know if it's a real coin, although it appears to be silver. The lead is cup shaped, and on the reverse there is a spot of brass or copper in the center. I put the modern dime next to it for size reference, but even though they look to be the same size in the pic, the half dime is a little bit smaller. Not sure how much of the edge of the coin is in the lead though. Since I've never seen an actual half dime, I don't know how big they are. Any ideas on why it is set in lead, or if it is a real coin? It has me puzzled.

Notice her highlighted search term: "half dime set in". This is where the smarts and creativity of the researcher come into play. The first terms that come to mind may never locate the right nugget, or if they do, it could be buried among hundreds of irrelevant results. Search engines are a powerful tool, but require an experienced driver behind the wheel. -Editor

To read the complete discussion, see:
Half Dime set in Lead - Help! (www.treasurenet.com/forums/what/305476-half-dime-set-lead-help.html)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
THE ENCASED HALF DIME MYSTERY (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v19n32a32.html)

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

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