A coin is simply a piece of metal that is produced by a government and provided value by that government. In the past, many years ago people used to give coins many different purposes that we would never think of today! These purposes helped provide people with the tools to stay alive, show off their wealth, or save money SpoonsOne of my favorite examples of purposes that people used to give to coins, is that of spoons. In the 1800s, it was a very common practice to make spoons with coins embedded in the handle, where oftentimes there is a lot of craftsmanship in the pieces that were made. Although they did not provide many purposes, they did help people show off their wealth, while still having money in case they came across hard times. Towards the end of that century, it was a very common practice to do this for saviors, where many people liked to have coins from different countries in their spoons.Whats even more interesting, is that people used to use larger, lower denomination coins to make the "bowl" portion of a spoon, instead of getting the metal from elsewhere. This helped people live their lives, and be successful while saving money. Love TokensAnother very interesting thing that people used to make frequently with coins, were love tokens. These tokens were made to show ones affection towards another, where they display a personal part of someone's life from so long ago and are oftentimes very beautiful and enjoyable to own. People would make these pieces by wearing down one side of a coin until it was smooth, then they engraved a design by hand which signifies the person that they are trying to hand the coin too, so they can display their affection. Some of my favorite examples are those where they layered the piece in gold if they could not afford to make one out of a gold coin, which is definitely very interesting. Gears
AdvertisingOne very interesting purpose that people gave to coins a long time ago, was advertising. There are thousands of different coins, where companies would create a "counter stamp" on coins to grow their business. What companies would do, is they would get a hot piece of metal, and "stamp" the name of their company on the coin at hand. Since coins, at the time were considered to be valuable due to their metal content, and they had a larger purchasing power, they proved to be great advertising tools for many people! Interestingly, now and days the company can be researched, to understand even more history about the coin at hand, and the purpose it may have served. A Pie CutterAnother interesting item that people would often times make out of coins, was pie cutters. What they would do, is they would get a large cent and cut small triangles through the entire rim of the large cent, and attach it to a handle to some sort of a handle, and use it to cut pie crusts. JewelryFor hundreds of years, coins have been a critical part of many pieces of jewelry! This was a great way for people to display their wealth in the pact while proving a purpose for coins that they had if they had more than they wanted to spend. They also make amazing pieces of already made art to be made into jewelry, which is admired by coin collectors and jewelry enthusiasts the like. People still do this with coins, where it is more common than ever where entire bracelets and necklaces have been made from them! Modern ExamplesNow and days, so many people have more coins than they know what to do with. One very interesting thing that people have been doing with pennies, is they have actually been using them, along with epoxy to cover floors and tables to make an awesome design that will last! Amazingly, many people are also using coins to make pieces of art, which are definitely interesting to look at, where there is definitely more of a focus on grouping coins in specific ways as opposed to modifying them. There are also many people that take coins, and make them into rings, which are filled with craftsmanship. It is truly amazing what people used to make out of coins, as they oftentimes served more purposes than their original intention. Peoples resourcefulness, along with coins that they had on hand helped bring America to the point where it is today and adds an added level of character to old coins in modern times. I really hope that you enjoyed this article, and please keep on the lookout for more from Let's Start A Coin Collection!
- Brandon Spiegel, owner, and founder of Let's Start A Coin Collection file:///C:/Users/brand/Downloads/google1e750597dd8642a3%20(3).html
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Author: Brandon Spiegel.
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