Coin appraisals

The half-crown coin was a pre-decimal coin worth ¹/₈ of an Irish pound. The coin featured the Irish hunter, a breed of horse; the original minting of the coin from 1928 until 1943 contained 75% silver, a higher content than the equivalent British coin. It is believed that this was done so that the new currency would not be seen as a poor substitute to the British currency which circulated alongside. The silver coins are quite distinguishable as they have a more “whitish” look than the later cupronickel variety that were minted from 1951; also, the silver coins wear less well. The cupronickel coin was of 75% copper and 25% nickel content.

The design of the coin, by Percy Metcalf, was later featured in the twenty pence coin issued in 1986. The diameter of the half-crown coin was 1.275 inches (32.4 mm) and its weight was 14.1 grams.

The coin was commonly called a “two and six”, due to its value of two shillings and sixpence (indicated on the coin itself as “2^s6^d“).

The last half-crowns were produced in 1967 and withdrawn two years later on January 1 1970.

• Coinage (Calling In) (No. 2) Order, 1969

The quadrigatus was a medium-sized silver coin produced by the Roman Republic during the 3rd century BC. The obverse featured a young janiform bust and the reverse featured Victory driving a quadriga, giving the coin its name, with the inscription “ROMA” below.

The coin weighed about 6.8 grams (6 scruples), consistent with a didrachma. The coin was minted from c. 241 to 235 BC until shortly before the introduction of the denarius (211 BC). Gold coins of similar style were issued at this time (staters and half-staters) which featured the same obverse type as the quadrigatus and the reverse type of two soldiers performing an oath over a third soldier holding pig, with the inscription “ROMA” below. The choice of Janus for these coins is believed to coincide with the closing of the doors of the temple of Janus, indicating the absence of warfare, a rare occasion.

The victoriatus was a later coin of the same fabric that was valued at half a quadrigatus (3 scruples).

See also: Roman currency.

Old pence is the term used in the United Kingdom to describe the pre-decimalisation unit of currency, the penny.

The abbreviation used when writing old penny amounts was d - from the Roman denarii; thus, 3 old pence was written 3d. The value of an old penny was 1/240 of a pound sterling. This coin was substantially larger in size than the American or Canadian cent, although it had a similar value, since the devaluation of the pound sterling in 1949.

50 cents may refer to 50 subunits of currencies where the subunit is called a cent. Note that some of these currencies may not be dollars; see cent (currency) for complete listing. Normally 1 main unit is divided into 100 cents, making ½ main unit equal to 50 cents. But most of the time, coins or banknotes of that amount are denominated in only one of the two expressions.

Gold Eagle may mean:

• The Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) is one of the best known birds of prey in the Northern Hemisphere.
• The American Gold Eagle is the official gold bullion coin of the United States.
  
• The Eagle, a gold coin with a denomination of 10 dollars.
• Harlequin Enterprises Ltd, publisher of Gold Eagle books
• T-50 Golden Eagle, South Korean supersonic jet trainer
• Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, Japanese baseball team

Koban can refer to two different Japanese words, with different pronunciations:

• kōban (交番), with a long o: Koban (police box)
• Koban (小判), with a short o: Koban, a former Japanese oval gold coin

It is also the name of the ancient Koban culture in Ossetia.

Medallic orientation (or medal alignment or variations of these) is a feature of coins. When viewing one side of a coin with medallic orientation, correct side up, the coin must be flipped about its vertical axis in order to see the other side the correct way up. In other words, the image on one face of the coin is rightside-up relative to the other.

In Britain this is sometimes referred to as “British turnover”.

Coins with medallic orientation include British coinage and most other Commonwealth coinage, Japanese yen coinage, and Euro coinage.

Compare coin orientation.

Scotch and Soda is a magic effect involving a copper coin and a silver coin which appear to transpose in the spectator’s hands. The effect relies on simple gimmick and the tricks performed with it are self-working and require almost no skill. The trick is named after the cocktail Scotch and soda; the copper coin represents the “Scotch” and the silver coin represents the “soda”.

The effect is usually performed as follows: The magician displays two coins of almost equal size, one copper and one silver. The silver coin is most often a U.S. half dollar and the copper coin is usually either an English penny or a Mexican centavo. The magician stacks the coins and places them into the spectator’s hand. He then asks her to place her hands behind her back and put one coin in each hand, remarking that the silver coin is slightly larger than the copper coin, making them easy to tell apart. The magician asks to see the silver coin which the spectator produces. When the spectator opens her other hand, the copper coin has become a quarter. The copper coin can then be made to appear wherever the magician desires, such as in the spectator’s pocket or under an object across the room.

Scotch and Soda is a popular trick that can be purchased at many magic stores. The trick contains a set of two gimmicked coins and an authentic copper coin. A number of books exclusively on the subject describe different effects that can be achieved with the Scotch and Soda gimmick. Gin and tonic is a version of the trick using a dime and a penny.

Method

The gimmicks used in Scotch and Soda are a hollow coin shell made from the silver coin, and a half-copper/half-silver coin that can fit snugly inside the shell. From its obverse side, the silver coin shell looks normal. From one side, the half-and-half coin looks like the obverse side of the copper coin; from the other, it looks like the reverse side of the silver coin.

At the start of the trick, the shell conceals the quarter that will appear later. The half-and-half coin is only displayed from its copper side and the shell is, obviously, only displayed from the top. The magician must be careful to not show the underside of either of the gaffed coins. When the magician stacks the coins to give to the spectator, he actually slides the half-and-half coin in between the shell and the quarter, squeezing the two gimmicks together, thus forming one solid silver “coin” with the quarter beneath. Once the coins are in the spectator’s hands, the magician’s work is over. All he must do is ask the spectator to open his hands.

An authentic copper coin that matches the gimmick from the trick can be planted by the magician before the trick begins to be “discovered” later as the missing coin. To reset the trick, the magician must use a special tool to separate the gimmicks: A small ring shaped object that when banged against a hard surface will allow only the half copper/half silver coin through.

The rim of a coin is the sharp circular (or otherwise shaped) edge which surrounds the coin design.

This is the part which exceeds the area of the die which strikes the coin during production, and as a result is pushed upward and sharpened to form a sort of border around the coin’s design.

For accessibility purposes, the rim of the coin is sometimes milled with certain patterns in order for the blind to more easily distinguish between coins. In Australia, the two dollar coin has periodically distributed around its edge a short set of grooves, which alternate between the smooth rim, whilst the one dollar coin has a larger set of grooves, and the similar sized ten cent coin has grooves continuously about its edge.

Solidus can refer to:

• Solidus (punctuation), the “/” or “⁄” punctuation character
• solidus (chemistry), a concept in chemistry, materials science, and physics
• solidus (coin), a coin used in Ancient Rome
• Solidus Snake, a character in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty