100th topic: Cartwheels

Robert · Senior Member

No, not uncirculated Morgan/Peace silver dollars. Something older and bigger and copper.

Back in the latter 1700s, most coins were made by screw presses. They did a good enough job, but they were slow and they only worked for a planchet of a certain size or smaller. Enter Matthew Boulton

http://www.birminghamuk.com/matthewboulton.htm

and his application of steam power to the coining process. This was part of the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Large amounts of high quality coins (with the occasional mint errors which we all certainly enjoy) were now possible. It was one of those times where the world was forever changed (no pun intended). How's that for historical relevance?

And in honor of the 100th post on "world copper" here is one of the largest, high-mintage circulation coins made at "ground zero" of the era of the coin press. It's a 2-pence coin of King George III (yes that King George) of England.

http://www.australianstamp.com/coin-web/gr_brit/twopence/17972pen.htm

Dimensions of this massive 2 pence coin:
41 mm diameter
5 mm thick
56.7 grams (that's exactly 2 ounces!)

Dimensions of the puny Morgan dollar:
38 mm diameter
3 mm thickness
26.7 grams (less than 1 ounce!)

Numismatically speaking, these 2-pence cartwheels aren't too hard to find in rough condition. They almost always have multiple rim dings from being dropped. Nice, high-grade examples are harder to find. I can't imagine walking around with a pocket full of 2-pence coins in 1800.

So whenever you hear someone refer to Morgan/Peace dollars as "cartwheels", you can smile back knowing that you know that there are bigger, badder, older, more massive (and more interesting) coins out there.

(as always, I am not affiliated in any way with the links)

smed · Senior Member

Here's my best 2 pence, got some dings but in pretty good shape.

http://web.tampabay.rr.com/se/1797-2pence-obv.jpg

http://web.tampabay.rr.com/se/1797-2pence-rev.jpg

I never noticed the fingerprints until I saw these pics.

Bob P · Site Admin

Smed, When I tried to look at your pics, I got this error:

The website declined to show this webpage
HTTP 403
Most likely causes:
This website requires you to log in.

What you can try:
Go back to the previous page.

More information

This error (HTTP 403 Forbidden) means that Internet Explorer was able to connect to the website, but it does not have permission to view the webpage.

For more information about HTTP errors, see Help.

Am I the only one getting this error??

coop · Expert Member

Nope. I get it also.... Crying or Very sad

Rhubarb · Senior Member

I get the same error as Bob and Coop.

David

KurtS · Senior Member

I've read somewhere these Cartwheels were so precise in their weight that they were popular with merchants for measuring out goods for sale. If I can find the link, I'll post it here.

Dick · Expert Member

I doin'[t get any pictires, either, and I get Tampa Bay RR network......
Dick

smed · Senior Member

I don't know why that happens from here. Try to copy/paste the url and see what happens.

GarryN · Expert Member

Yes that worked, copy and paste the url. The lettering and date are incuse, right, Smed?

smed · Senior Member