•

The Mystery of the Coin That Shouldn’t Exist

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/07/science/dinero-peru-coin-1899-counterfeit.html?campaign_id=190&emc=edit_ufn_20240121&instance_id=113094&nl=from-the-times&regi_id=219282970&segment_id=155930&te=1&user_id=255198a6259639703b2c7299b1ae32f9

Scientists recently analyzed a Peruvian 10-cent piece with an unexplained origin.

The Mystery of the Coin That Shouldn’t Exist

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)

6 comments

troyunrau

•

Tl;dr: counterfeits

someguy3

•

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.

echodot

•

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

•

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

medicsofanarchy

•

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.

neptune

•

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.