A repoussé or “pop-out” coin featuring President Theodore Roosevelt has established what is apparently a price record for a nongold example of pop-out coins.

A 1904 Barber quarter dollar featuring a pop-out of Roosevelt realized $1,650 in an auction closing Oct. 8 in Virtual Coin Show, a group on Facebook.

ICOIN in Joliet, Illinois, auctioned the coin, which was bought by David Schroeder, another dealer.

About repoussé coins

Repoussé coins are made using dies that force the metal of a piece to pop-out from one side, embossed with the die’s special design (repoussé is French for “regrowth”).

The first examples of the practice applied to U.S. coins date to around 1903. Repoussé was a very popular art form at first, until the U.S. government outlawed the defacing of coins about 1910, according to dealer Jon Lerner of Scarsdale Coins, citing Robert Stump’s 2011 book, Pop-out Repoussé Coins: a Numismatic Mystery.

This latest sale eclipses the previous record-holder, a 1909 Barber half dollar with a pop-out design featuring the Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition. It sold for $1,000 back around 2011, Lerner said.

Despite being outlawed in the past, pop-out coins have been made in the modern (post-World War II) era for Presidents Kennedy and Reagan, among others, so the practice has not died, though the extent of issuance of new pieces is perhaps rather limited.

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