circa 1860s Rialto Base Ball club any info?

[JustinD]

Originally Posted by Michael B

They did not care about the U.S. Code in the 19th Century. It was quite common to take a silver coin (three cent piece, dime, quarter) and engrave it with initials and turn it into a charm, stickpin or momento to give to a sweetheart. I owned a few back in the late 1970's/early 1980's when I collected coins/currency. It was even quite common in the early 20th Century with Buffalo nickels. Just look up 'Hobo Nickels'. Wiki has an entry for them and there are quite a few images of them. If you look on ebay you will find quite a few listing for them. There you will see pennies, nickels and even Ike dollars that have been engraved.

I think you are misinterpreting my doubt. When I added that it was in reference toward it being modern because no one cared at the time. If you made this currently as an artist you may do a cya move.

The wear on this coin prior to engraving would likely not suggest it was done in the 19th century. It could have been in the early 1900s as suggested by the op. I simply do not know, I am only throwing out options. Other than to deface the obverse and show there was nothing but artistic reason for changing the coin I cannot guess of a reason to purposely remove the letter.

[GaryPassamonte]

The coin could have been engraved in the 19th century. The obverse was altered, but the reverse was left alone. The wear on the reverse could have happened after the engraving through normal handling as with any coin. If the owner of the coin carried it with them as a memento they could very well have caused the wear, after the fact. Also, since the obverse is incised, it would be less susceptible to wear.

[JustinD]

Originally Posted by GaryPassamonte

The coin could have been engraved in the 19th century. The obverse was altered, but the reverse was left alone. The wear on the reverse could have happened after the engraving through normal handling as with any coin. If the owner of the coin carried it with them as a memento they could very well have caused the wear, after the fact. Also, since the obverse is incised, it would be less susceptible to wear.

It seems the scratches left where the T was definitively show its removal was purposely done. I think the only question is why.

As to the proving of this without a doubt, I think it’s a high challenge without identifying the artist to date it, and that is where the initials could help vastly. The artist would be key.

Without any real knowledge I would say value could only be what a buyer believes in at purchase because we have no provable facts at this point. It definitely is a interesting item.

[Michael B]

Originally Posted by JustinD

I think you are misinterpreting my doubt. When I added that it was in reference toward it being modern because no one cared at the time. If you made this currently as an artist you may do a cya move.

The wear on this coin prior to engraving would likely not suggest it was done in the 19th century. It could have been in the early 1900s as suggested by the op. I simply do not know, I am only throwing out options. Other than to deface the obverse and show there was nothing but artistic reason for changing the coin I cannot guess of a reason to purposely remove the letter.

I understand what you originally stated. I just wanted to point out the anomalies of the law versus reality.

I would suspect that the 'T' could have been removed back then. The person may have been trying to alter the words to read something else and it did not work. Those punches into the 'S' and the gash in the '2' appear to be attempts to modify them.

We will never know. The skepticism is warranted. Too many collectors in various fields look at an item and try to prove its legitimacy by what they find 'right' with an item rather than what is 'wrong' with the item. I would much rather take the latter approach than the former.

[packs]

I've seen later coins like this referred to as "hobo nickels". There are some really cool ones out there.

[Lobo Aullando]

There's mention of the hobo nickel, but not the potty dollar?