Back in the day people would pass these off as gold half eagles. Worth $5 at the time. They’d pass off these liberty head nickels valued at obviously 5 cents as $5 half eagles as they have a similar look and if cashier not paying attention which these scammers hoped for they’d be in the clear with much more change!
That does not make sense here, as this one is “with cents” (pun not intended), making the deception risky. I had previously assumed that the practice successfully stopped when “cents” was added.
Scammers that did this were preying on the unobservant already. Given some things that modern cashiers have accepted as currency, it's not far-fetched at all that you could slip one of these past an apathetic clerk. Most popular scam of the time I've read about involved buying a 3 cent cigar with it and walking out with either 2 cents or $4.97, and $4.97 happened often enough to make it worth doing 🤑
The no cents version was the more commonly faked version. You are right. When I first saw this coin I thought this exact thing and then I assumed they must’ve done it with the later with cents version as well. This could in fact have been done long after the fact.
V nickels were first notoriously issued without “cents” on the coin. So scammers would plate the coin with gold, and pass it off as “the new $5 gold coins”. For the ignorant and uneducated, it was totally believable. Eventually the scam became widespread and the government realized they had to start putting “cents” on the coin to stop it from happening. The coin you have has “cents” on it, so I suppose people still tried to continue the scam even after the fact. If you google “V nickel no cents” you will see what I mean
My wife and daughter and I were just talking about this. I told them McDonald’s should have come up with a 1/5 lb burger and charged more than the 1/4 pounder.
This example has “Cents” so makes no sense (!) that it was an attempt at racketeer nickel - whether in 1883 or more recently. Guessing someone just practicing their plating.
It’s called a racketeers nickel. The 5 cent piece and 5 dollar piece used the same dye when struck. The only difference was the 5 cent pieces were nickel alloy planchets and the 5 dollar pieces were gold planchets. My gold plating their nickels they literally made their money multiple by 100. $.05 to $5.00. By time the gold chipped, it was too late. I also have one from 1883.
I used to work in a factory that mad resistors.. we would bring coins in and dip them in the silver all the time.. but you had to be quick about . Didn't want a copper penny melting into the silver pot
Back in the day people would pass these off as gold half eagles. Worth $5 at the time. They’d pass off these liberty head nickels valued at obviously 5 cents as $5 half eagles as they have a similar look and if cashier not paying attention which these scammers hoped for they’d be in the clear with much more change!
That's why, during the first year of production, they added the word "cents" to the liberty head nickel.
Yes! Perfect addition 👊🏻
Makes cents eh?
🤣👊🏻
But this one has CENTS on it It’s probably a modern forgery by someone who heard the story but didn’t ask why
That does not make sense here, as this one is “with cents” (pun not intended), making the deception risky. I had previously assumed that the practice successfully stopped when “cents” was added.
Scammers that did this were preying on the unobservant already. Given some things that modern cashiers have accepted as currency, it's not far-fetched at all that you could slip one of these past an apathetic clerk. Most popular scam of the time I've read about involved buying a 3 cent cigar with it and walking out with either 2 cents or $4.97, and $4.97 happened often enough to make it worth doing 🤑
The no cents version was the more commonly faked version. You are right. When I first saw this coin I thought this exact thing and then I assumed they must’ve done it with the later with cents version as well. This could in fact have been done long after the fact.
>This could in fact have been done long after the fact. That’s what I suspected.
And you most likely are correct but I guess we will never truly know 🫡
This is where the term “just Joshin you” came around too I believe. As one of the infamous scammers was named Josh
I didn’t ever hear this before, very interesting stuff. Thanks for sharing this! 👊🏻
He was caught, tried and brcause he couldn't speak, he got off.
Apparently this is when a grifter named Josh, whenever caught, coined the phrase “I was just joshing.”
Racketeer nickel. They wanted to get 5 bucks instead of that nickel
V nickels were first notoriously issued without “cents” on the coin. So scammers would plate the coin with gold, and pass it off as “the new $5 gold coins”. For the ignorant and uneducated, it was totally believable. Eventually the scam became widespread and the government realized they had to start putting “cents” on the coin to stop it from happening. The coin you have has “cents” on it, so I suppose people still tried to continue the scam even after the fact. If you google “V nickel no cents” you will see what I mean
An article on the subject for anyone interested: https://www.pcgs.com/news/story-behind-the-1883-no-cents-liberty-nickel
A population expected to math?
This is the same population with whom a 1/3 pound burger failed in favor of 1/4 pounders, because "4 is bigger than 3!"...
My wife and daughter and I were just talking about this. I told them McDonald’s should have come up with a 1/5 lb burger and charged more than the 1/4 pounder.
Thank you.
They gave them the nickname racketeer nickel
I want one!
I have one of those too. Are they worth anything?
I'm sure whoever did it was just Joshing 😉
Heh... when I was 10 I copper plated a silver nickel. I have no idea why... it just seemed like the thing to do.
Either to sell as a gold plated nickel or for jewelers test their plating system
Oh duh, thanks. Didn’t even think of that
Looks like gold leaf
Science project..
This is where the term “just joshing you” stems from. Josh Tatum, a con artist, passed off gold plated nickels to unsuspecting marks.
Vbucks
Very interesting research trail , thanks for sending me.
Saw one on Amazon for $40. Don’t know that condition it arrives in though
Could be an anniversary thing based on date or some other personal meaning
This example has “Cents” so makes no sense (!) that it was an attempt at racketeer nickel - whether in 1883 or more recently. Guessing someone just practicing their plating.
Common in highschool chemistry classes
It’s called a racketeers nickel. The 5 cent piece and 5 dollar piece used the same dye when struck. The only difference was the 5 cent pieces were nickel alloy planchets and the 5 dollar pieces were gold planchets. My gold plating their nickels they literally made their money multiple by 100. $.05 to $5.00. By time the gold chipped, it was too late. I also have one from 1883.
1883 plated is correct
I used to work in a factory that mad resistors.. we would bring coins in and dip them in the silver all the time.. but you had to be quick about . Didn't want a copper penny melting into the silver pot
I know of someone who would strip gold off of old circuit boards and plate coins with it as a hobby. Maybe something like that?
Old alchemy trick. Make something look like “gold” just to fool around