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Shattered coins?!


gxseries

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I have NEVER seen anything like this until I came across this auction page:

 

German Gold Coins Hoard

 

Yes, there is a hoard of gold German coins, but there are two interesting gold coins there.

 

 

How often do you see shattered coins?! I mean, if coins are metallic, I would assume that they would bend under most normal circumstances unless they have been lying around in some Soviet freezing temperature and a hammer fell on them by accident... :ninja:

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I wonder...

 

If the alloy is too pure could that happen?

 

Failing that the only thing i can think of that would cause such a thing would be crystallisation of the metal. With ancient coins i've come across this; Cue to Reid again...

 

But with such modern coins is it possible?

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When I was in high school (a very long time ago) the teacher shatter a grape and a rose by immersing the in liquid nitrogen first. The sounded like glass when they broke and then when they defrosted, they were back to normal. So I imagine that metal will have the same results.

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On weekends, I am a presenter at the Ann Arbor Hands-on Museum. I do a liquid nitrogen show. Shattering coins is part of that. I freeze Lincoln cents and hit them with a hammer.

 

I also shatter mums, but I do not like that. I talked my way out of it last time by telling the audience that when I was a kid, scientists would come do this demonstration and shatter a frog. Wasting a flower is almost as bad. Flowers should be given to a pretty girl. So, one guy in back pipes up: "You never gave a frog to a pretty girl?" :ninja:

 

When I do this show again, I think I will expand the coinage a bit and see what breaks how.

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  • 3 months later...

Bang takes out quarter and pounds on it with hammer on concrete step .....the concrete cracked but not the coin. My dad was pretty mad and a quarter in those days was a weeks allowance. Bang takes a quarter and sticks it half way into vice on bench bolted to floor...... took a sharp wack at it with a hammer and woweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! It broke in half. I did this when I was a kid. Bang takes a dollar bill and wraps it around a minie ball ....stuffs it in a 50 calliber blackpowder rifle. Found pieces of it all over firing range. :ninja:

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