# How to make this novelty coin
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-make-this-novelty-coin/1010822
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [November 27, 2024, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-make-this-novelty-coin/1010822 "2024-11-27T00:30:03Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2024, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-make-this-novelty-coin/1010822/1 "2024-11-27T00:30:03Z")
After the assassination of Julius Ceasar, Brutus minted some commemorative coins. I would like a replica like [this one](https://www.etsy.com/listing/1644114965/coin-of-the-assassination-of-julius?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=ides+of+march&ref=sr_gallery-1-4&frs=1&sts=1&content_source=bff66e6a1dc264f98a63afea94d56833cefc336f%253A1644114965&search_preloaded_img=1&organic_search_click=1), and add the date “44 B.C.” It would double as an IQ test to anybody I showed it to.
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### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2024, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-make-this-novelty-coin/1010822/2 "2024-11-27T00:32:29Z")
3D-print a master, make a mold, cast the coin.
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### Author:  [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2024, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-make-this-novelty-coin/1010822/3 "2024-11-27T00:35:02Z")
Yeah, let me go fire up my forge…
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### Author:  [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2024, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-make-this-novelty-coin/1010822/4 "2024-11-27T00:41:21Z")
You can get alloys that will melt in boiling water, like Cerrosafe. Use 2-part silicone compound for the mold.
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### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2024, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-make-this-novelty-coin/1010822/5 "2024-11-27T01:12:35Z")
Easier?
Get some sculpy clay. Make your coin shape. Make your impression with fingers and small tools.
Bake in your home oven to pkg. Instructions.
Paint with metallic paints.
Antique with something (1000s of things you can use).
Start your adventure into unannounced IQ tests…make friends, and influence people.
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### Author:  [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2024, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-make-this-novelty-coin/1010822/6 "2024-11-27T02:28:41Z")
Buy one of the Etsy coins for 12 bucks. Add on the raised date using something suitable. Then make a latex mold and cast your own from lead or tin.
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### Author:  [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2024, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-make-this-novelty-coin/1010822/7 "2024-11-27T02:33:05Z")
Buy the replica and just stamp the date on it. If they’re dim enough to fall for the anachronism they won’t know the difference between raised or indented figures.
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### Author:  [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2024, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-make-this-novelty-coin/1010822/8 "2024-11-27T03:47:52Z")
I wouldn’t know how to make such a coin, but isn’t this the plot of an Encyclopedia Brown story (or similar)? A rare coin collection is stolen, but EB points out the fake coins stamped with BC dates.
Personally, I’d love to have such a fake coin, just for a conversation piece.
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### Author:  [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2024, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-make-this-novelty-coin/1010822/9 "2024-11-27T14:19:37Z")
You could follow it up with one celebrating the birth of Jesus and date it AD 1.
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### Author:  [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2024, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-make-this-novelty-coin/1010822/10 "2024-11-27T14:25:30Z")
There would be a stark difference between sharp modern stamped letters and the crude raised letters of yore.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2024, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-make-this-novelty-coin/1010822/11 "2024-11-28T21:21:08Z")
If you make a two-part impression mould (from the existing replica coin) in something like polymer clay, you should be able to carve the additional text directly into the face of the mould, before casting the fake coin.
Pewter can be melted in an old saucepan on a domestic stove. Worth doing the casting pour over a tray of sand, as the metal doesn’t always behave itself.
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### Author:  [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2024, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-make-this-novelty-coin/1010822/12 "2024-11-28T22:56:40Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#):
>
> add the date “44 B.C.” It would double as an IQ test to anybody I showed it to.
Yeah, the smart ones would say it should be B.C.E
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2024, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-make-this-novelty-coin/1010822/13 "2024-11-29T13:01:20Z")
Alternatively, get the replica coin. Add the lettering you want by rolling up little pieces of soft wax (the wax from some cheeses is ideal for this), forming the little rolls of wax into letters/numbers on the replica coin, then use this as a master for a silicone mould.
Use the same wax to add a sprue and vent to allow the mould to be filled later with molten pewter.
Keep the mould in one piece, but remove the form by cutting zigzags down both sides ([Robert Tolone](https://www.youtube.com/c/RobertTolone) on YouTube has some great tips on that)