THE TOSS OF A COIN

There are many enjoyable things about playing Dead Man’s Hand, from the game itself to setting up your Wild West town just so. 

After the first few skirmishes on the dusty streets of Iron Creek, we decided there might be times when we'd want to toss a coin to decide matters as an alternative to cutting the deck. Trying to keep things suitably Western, we decided a silver dollar might be the ticket. But not just any old coin; we wanted a Morgan Silver Dollar.

Introduced in 1878, after a Bill was passed to restore silver as an official currency in the USA, the Government had a new coin designed, and what a lovely coin it is. With Lady Liberty on one side and the American Eagle, grasping what seems to be both the olive branch and arrows of war, on the other, it evokes an age where coins had heft as well as the intrinsic value of its precious metal that still endures to this day. That is, of course, if you manage to buy a real one…

Tasked with obtaining this precious piece of Americana and not being an expert on coins, my first attempt via eBay proved disastrous. Having bid and won a set of three coins, consecutive years from 1878 to 1880, for a very reasonable sum, I waited for them to arrive with anticipation. They came promptly and, inspired to write a blog post about them, I began looking deeper into the history of the coins. That’s when I discovered the three coins, clearly marked with the ‘O’ identifying them as being from the New Orleans Mint, were counterfeit. No 1878 coins had been produced at that Mint. I hung my head with eBay shame.

Further investigation showed that those three years, all with the ‘O’, are typical of Chinese replicas (I'm charitable with the terminology here; you’ll see why soon).

Damn.

As luck would have it, I sourced a genuine 1880 coin from a reputable seller and obtained a full refund for the others which I was also able to keep. So, now we have a coin that may well have travelled the American West, been won and lost in saloon card games, or used to buy cigars and bullets at the local store. It makes a superb noise when flicked into the air; a sound only silver can make, and feels satisfying in the hand. 

In the spirit of paying it forward, the Iron Creek blog is having a giveaway this week for the three replicas, on a one-per-person basis. They may not be part of the Old West, but we reckon they're  an excellent addition to the game that'll look great on the games table. 

Simply comment on this blog post and follow us on here on Blogger or Twitter (@ironcreekblog) by Wednesday 6th July and we’ll enter you into the free prize draw.


UPDATE:

Well, we used the coin on Friday night to settle any calls that had to be made, and it was a hoot. It's big, solid and fits the game nicely. My only regret is that now it lives with the counters, and not in my pocket.