Coins have been used throughout history for many different purposes. Ancient races cut pieces of silver to pay off invading armies. This way the armies agreed not to invade particular nations in exchange for the precious metal. Other nations paid their soldiers using similarly cut pieces of previous metal that could be exchanged for goods while more nations began the regular circulation of foreign money as a way to aid trade. Trading goods for goods was not only cumbersome but could also prove difficult. The introduction of a uniform currency meant that this difficulty was overcome and everyone had the capability to trade fairly whether their intention was to buy or to sell goods. This new method of fair trade soon caught on and found its way around the whole world.
The magic trick
Coins have also been used for other, unintended purposes. Children play games using coins as counters or markers and flipping a coin has been the choice of many people struggling to make a decision. Magicians have made nickels appear from behind young children's ears and even up noses and eventually the two-headed coin was introduced as an intriguing magic trick. The two-headed coin appears to be perfectly real and in many cases casual collectors have even been fooled into thinking that they are rare coins that are worth a lot of money. While this is rarely true, they are perfectly crafted and seamless coins nonetheless.
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Where to Find Double Headed Coins
Whilst not really a part of your main coin collection, double headed (or double tailed) coins can be fun to have around. For starters, you need never loose a coin toss again!
Heads you win. Tails you win. Flip it once, twice or even hundreds of times and you're still a winner each and every time with these double sided coins. Check out these inexpensive Double Headed Coins.
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Heads or tails
A two-headed coin is created by taking two exact same coins. One coin is cut down the center to leave the head showing. It is then passed through a metal lathe, which essentially scoops the metal in the middle out. The other coin is then trimmed down to size and placed within this shell. Add a little metal adhesive to the equation and hey presto, you have the perfect magic trick in your two-headed coin. Computer operated lathes are used to give precise measurements making the connection and seam unnoticeable. Even close inspection under a microscope will not show a seam around the edge, but this is because there isn't one.
Heads I win
These coins are available in the shape of nickels, quarters and half dollars and can be created with either two heads or two tails. There are a large number of companies that have specialized in making these coins and they have presumably been used in the past to extort money from unsuspecting people.
The two-headed coin is hardly a new invention, but you can be assured that they are very unlikely to be worth any money and were created for use as a magic trick. Many people still email assessors and numismatic websites to ask of an approximate value on these 'rare, valuable' coins. They cost roughly five dollars from any good joke shop.
'Genuine' two headed coins
All of that said, there have actually been two 'genuine' two-headed coins found. However, these were found in the safety deposit box of a deceased mint worker and no explanation of how, or indeed why, these coins were created has yet been offered by anyone. While there have been two such coins discovered there have been hundreds of thousands of magic trick double headed coins produced and there is more than a reasonable chance that if you do find a double headed coin that you have the $5 version from the back of a comic and not the rare and expensive version.
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