When American coins were still silver and I was a youngster, a man showed my brother how he could form a quarter into a finger ring, by tapping it with a spoon.
IIR, my brother said he just started tapping in the center and kept it up, and the metal would slowly change shape until he had made a plain band that would fit his finger.
Can you do that with the current sandwich coins? How about nickels?
Interesting, I’d never heard of this but I did a bit googling.
These instructions involve drilling out the center of the coin.
Comments here from people who’ve tried it, seems like you really want to use old silver coins.
This was a common thing in WWII. And, since the coins used were silver, they were softer than today’s coins, which are usually mixtures of copper and nickel.
I would think doing the same thing today would be a lot more difficult.
We usually see these rings and other things tapped out of coins from the South Pacific, Australian especially. Many GI’s had a lot of time on their hands. Tapping it around and around the rim of the coin was certainly boring. But very common.
Sorry. I’m not sure whether tapped in center or on rims. I’ve seen both.
My dad did this, tapping a coin with a spoon, to turn it into a ring, back when he was in the navy. I still have his effort, a Franklin half-dollar which would make a real nice ring for a guy with really big fingers, if the center was punched out. On the inside of the ring, you can see the date and words quite clearly.
I thought about finishing the job, but I just haven’t found the time to sit around for hours and hit the damn thing with a spoon.
Perhaps one of your patients could help?
Isn’t defacing currency technically illegal?
Nope. You can do what you like with it.
It is not unless there is fraudulent intent. Otherwise those machines that flatten and stamp coins that you see at tourist attractions would be illegal.
Anyway, I don’t think Qadgop’s patients care. That might even add to the appeal.
Unless you really want to stand on tradition, it would go quicker with a small ball peen hammer. :smack:
Couldn’t you use the ball end of the hammer to tap out the middle, so you don’t have to drill it out? I’m sure it would take longer, but the finished ring would contain all the silver from the coun and weight very close to the same as when you started.