Hollow spy coins
Brian Dereu, a wonderful MAKE magazine contributor, has started a new business selling hollow spy coins.
During the Cold War, Spies from both the East and West used Hollow Coins to ferry secret messages, suicide poisons, and microfilms undetected. On May 1st, 1960 U2 Pilot Gary Francis Powers was shot down over the Soviet Union and taken captive. In his possession was a hollow silver dollar containing a poisoned needle that was to be used to take his own life in such a circumstance. For one reason or another, he did not use it and was held for 21 months by the Soviets. He was then exchanged for Soviet spy KGB Colonel Vilyam Fisher (aka Rudolf Abel) at the Glienicke Bridge, in Berlin, Germany. Colonel Fisher was also no stranger to hollow coins...his original capture by the United States FBI was directly related to a hollow nickel that was used to transport microfilm.Hollow spy coinsOn the following pages are exact duplicates of Cold War Spy Coins. They are all precision machined from actual coins, and are absolutely indistinguishable from a solid coin to the naked eye. They can be safely handled without danger of separation, and can easily circulate without detection. These exact replicas are proudly made in The USA.
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I'd like to see a video showing how the coin works.
The pics don't show (me) enough info to figure out how exactly how the coin can "be safely handled without danger of separation".
How many ounces of toothpaste could I get in there?
QUOTE:
These exact replicas are proudly made in The USA.
/QUOTE
Isn't this close to counterfeiting..if they could pass as real coins?
Oh, there's a comedic premise for you: Spy accidentally spends his microfilm-bearing quarter. Zany hijinks ensue as he tries to find and recover it.
Zany misplaced-coin hi-jinks ... http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=1Enh6b1qN0w
I'm not positive about the legalities but I imagine there must be some sort of loophole for these that also covers the various coin props made for magic tricks (folding coins, magnetized coins, hinged doubles, etc) that can also generally pass for real.
Not to mention that these replicas, like the magic coins, cost far too much to have any profitable use for straight up counterfeiting
#3 - Each coin is milled from (2 I expect) legitimate coins... Counterfeiters usually end up with more coins than they started with - otherwise it would be uneconomic. :)
Not considered counterfeiting. they are exact replicas of original hollow spy coins as used during the cold war, but made from actual currency.
I used to have something like this though not as nice, got it from a magic shop.
@#7
That, at least in Canada, would be against the law as well.
well... We, Canadians, have the true stuff: http://www.thestar.com/printArticle/211189 and here, on page 28: http://www.fas.org/irp/threat/2006trends.pdf
"On at least three separate occasions
between October 2005 and January 2006,
cleared defense contractors’ employees
traveling through Canada have discovered
radio frequency transmitters embedded in
Canadian coins placed on their persons."
Manue @ 8 - Wow... and our Commonwealth Poppysellers so nearly got away with it! Remember remember the 11th of November...
It's easy to just casually carry around a suicide coin, but when it comes down to business, lots of folks claim they left it in their other pair of pants, or on the dresser.
excuse, the excess, commas.
Perfect for people to transport small bags of powder in :P
I wonder why he didn't use the poison?
@13: Because when it comes down to it, most people generally don't thinking dying is as good of an idea as it sounded when it was just a theoretical concept and can usually justify their continued living for any number of reasons.
Not counterfeit because they are taking real coins and altering them. ("They are all precision machined from actual coins")
Mind you, so far as I'm aware altering coins is also technically illegal.
@9 One of the best magic coins I have ever seen is made in Canada. It is a folding double twooney. It looks precisely like a normal twooney but half of it folds out to look like two overlapping coins, allowing you to make a 'coin' appear or disappear quite easily if you know the proper motion. The design of the coin makes it ideal for hiding the machining unlike US coins
In Les Miserables, Jean Valjean (a former convict) at one point is tied up and has a hollow coin with a watch spring inside that he uses to cut his ropes. So these are not new..
The loophole for defacing coins is *only* that they be used in artwork or jewelry that does not alter the coin. You should read up on the other laws relating to coin modification and coin meltage a couple years ago.
Whoever fraudulently alters, defaces, mutilates, impairs, diminishes,
falsifies, scales, or lightens any of the coins coined at the mints of
the United States, or any foreign coins which are by law made current
or are in actual use or circulation as money within the United States;
or whoever fraudulently possesses, passes, utters, publishes, or
sells, or attempts to pass, utter, publish, or sell, or brings into
the United States, any such coin, knowing the same to be altered,
defaced, mutilated, impaired, diminished, falsified, scaled, or
lightened; Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than
five years, or both.
Mutilating a coin for non-fraudulent novelty purposes, therefore, is legal in the US.
Perhaps you should've looked up the law.
(apoligies if you're talking about Canada)
You all know that if this were illegal, tons of carnival and theme park operators would go to jail for novelty penny crusher machines, right?
The REASON for anti-mutilation laws is that back in the day, coins were made of silver. The idea was to prevent people from clipping or otherwise removing silver such that they would have the silver and a coin of the same value. Of course since the photo is of a coin from 1965, when the mint devalued the coinage and started making them out of 40% silver, arguably the coin comes pre-defaced.
But who would actually take the time to counterfeit coins, unless they had some purpose other than to use normally.
In the late 80's I had a .50 cent piece. Looked like any other .50 cent piece. I collected them as a kid so I put it away. A few years later I took them out to look and dropped them on the floor. One hit the floor and the bottom dropped out just like the coin in the picture. The only difference is that the interior of my coin was lined with a centavo coin. I took it to a coin dealer who said it probably was a magicians coin or a spy tool but he wasn't sure. When put back together you can't see the seam or that it comes apart. I have never found an easy way to open it except by dropping it on the floor a few times which eventually will separate the two halves.
I've owned one of these coins for years. It's part of a magic trick called Scotch and Soda
@24.
Yup. Your right. It's a magic coin. I can't tell you what it is for. But...you can find out online.
@18.
In Canada you can also get teh split looney and many other 'split' coins.
The Centavo Split coin is only about $15 - 20. I didn't see a price on these coins, but, there are essentially the same thing...if you remove the centavo centre.
Disclosure...I'm a Magicians Assistant... and no...I won't tell you how they made the Statue of Liberty dissappear... : )
@27
Thank you for not revealing one of the worst kept secrets in all of magic :)
The Lizardman; you should see his detachable thumb trick. It's awesome. If you're really nice, he'll even steal your nose.