"So, what does biting a gold coin tell you?" Topic

In today's day and age, your mother would say "Don't bite that coin! You don't know where it's been!"

However, pirates and sell-swords are not as fastidious, and care less for hygiene.

In a Flashman book, a Pathan proverb is given "Don't bite the coin of the honored stranger."

Also, why do cops in movies always lick their finger to taste the heroin?

And finally, does this affect the numismatic value of a piece of 8, all those teeth marks?

My guess … they are looking at how soft the metal is. Gold is a very soft, malleable metal that would readily show bite marks. Also, it was not uncommon for counterfeiters to cast a lead coin and coat it with a thin layer gold thus taking in unsuspecting individuals.

Are you sure it's heroin and not cocaine that are tasting in these movies? If it was, they would be looking for the taste of poor cutting material and a good numb of the gums.

Mark

Biting it will show you if it was coated in gold and not solid. The coating will come off and show the other metal.

I'm fairly certain that pirates can't tell the difference in tooth pressure required to dent lead and gold. However, the bite marks would show the lead underneath. This of course is from a time when no one knew the ill affects of putting large amounts of lead in your mouth :)

Hmmm, I think that if a pirate discovered that you had given him a counterfeit coin, he'd just run you through. And if you complained that he gave you a fake coin as part of a transaction, he'd run you through. So, all in all, I don't think pirates worried much about fake gold coins…. ;-)

Back in those times of horrible dental hygene, it told you how loose your teeth were.

Dan

Biting was totally Archimedes' plan until he figured out that whole displacement/specific gravity thing.

Ron

As someone who has worked around drugs (probation chief)a fair amount – no cop in their right mind would test any sort of drug by tasting it. I would suspend anyone I saw doing it.
(we have instant test kits that take about 30 seconds)

What was that movie with Deniro and Shatner and Eddie Murphy? Showtime?

Where Shatner is telling Murphy to taste the "drugs" and Deniro is telling them that they are now dead because they tasted poison?

To be fair they haven't always had kits. Doctors used to test urine by taste to see what was in it. I don't know any that use that method of detection anymore.

Pictors:

My high school chemistry teacher faked us into thinking he did that once. We were testing urine samples for diabetes. He dipped one finger in, put the finger next to it in his mouth and said "this one."

Couldn't you just try to dent the gold coin with your fingernail?

That urine test was a famous scene in "Young Doctors in Love".

In the intro to "Underdog," Shoeshine polishes a pair of shoes, and the owner tosses him a coin, which he promptly bites. The idea is to see if it is counterfeit.

In "Charade," Audrey Hepburn asks if Carey Grant would know if the white powder is drugs by tasting it. He does give it a try.

Grelber

Urine wheels to help with the testing:

link

Urine aversion is quite a modern thing – in the past, urine was a valuable resource used, for example, in the dye industry. Likewise, in some cultures drinking urine was also regarded as normal.

Hmmm, I think that if a pirate discovered that you had given him a counterfeit coin, he'd just run you through.

What happens if the Pirate chief paid him it? Would he run the chief through? What happens if he stole it. Seriously, the person presenting a coin isn't always to know it is fake, any more than a person presenting a note nowadays is to know.

If someone presented a credit card would you take their word for it, or would you check? Same with coins back then.

As well as if the sun is going down.

Gold coins were usually alloyed to make them more resistant to wear and tear and to stretch your supply of gold. Real gold coins were supposed to be tougher than counterfeit lead coins and left no mark if bitten.

I suspect that people back in the day were cleaner than most people today would like to assume while being used to much higher doses of pollutants that our modern hygienic bodies are not resistant against.

"Likewise, in some cultures drinking urine was also regarded as normal."

Patrick R -

I think you have that backwards. Pure gold is much softer than alloyed gold.

Pirates used to bite gold coins to get the gold foil off and eat the chocolate underneath. Captain Hook told me.

Here we go, the definitive explanation…

YouTube link

Patrick R -

I think you have that backwards. Pure gold is much softer than alloyed gold.

No, what he means is that real gold coins were alloyed, and would be harder than lead counterfeit ones.