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2024-11-11

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The Mystery of the Coin That Shouldn’t Exist (www.nytimes.com)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/science

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A decade ago, a funny money mystery fell into the hands of scientists and students at a university in Peru. The 10-cent piece was marked “1899” — but, according to those who made the money, the coin denomination never existed.

https://heritagesciencejournal.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40494-023-01092-2 (open access)

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[–] [email protected] 33 points 1 year ago

Tl;dr: counterfeits

[–] someguy3 26 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Results are consistent with a cast counterfeit coin made at the turn of the 19th and 20th using a copper base alloy that was silver-platted to pass unnoticed among the public.

Figured that in the paywalled article, confirmed in the open article.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Well that was pretty obvious. What else would the explanation be, it's from a parallel universe? They'll make an article about anything weren't they.

[–] Kethal 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

What's with this Dateline-style reporting in the NY Times? If I wanted subpar stories, I'd watch Netflix.

[–] medicsofanarchy 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The article would have been better if they'd explored how making a 10 cent coin was profitable to counterfeiters, especially when the craftsmanship would seem to indicate they had the skills to do so much more.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

If it's 1905, inflation would suggest that a dime might have been worth it. I believe this story is in Peru as well, so that's another layer to how a worldwide audience might not be able to parse the value of the coin.

Edit: an inflation calculator I just consulted said a dime in 1913 is worth about $3.25 today. But then again you can imagine how $3USD might get you further in Peru than NYC today.