Counterfeit 2004 Jefferson Nickel

You guys are pretty serious specialists. Thanks for sharing. It seems interesting and looking through that sellers other items he has a variety of coins and bills that do seem he pulled from circulation that would interest collectors. Most of what he sells are electronics.

I have been a LMC guy for a few years and recently accumulated about $500 in nickels from local banks. Although nickels are less valuable than copper cents, they can still be had without a need to sort and the metal intrinsic value is about the same as face value. Once the Mint places magnesium (or manganese I don't recall) into the alloy then current JN's, I speculate, may become more valuable. Anyhow, I plan on finding a strong magnet and going through them.

Should another of these counterfeits appear I will share here. I doubt It, but one never knows!

Thanks!

found the identical coin in a roll this week. weighs 4.2 grams and magnetic. sad that listing on ebay is not allowed. surface is grainy, IN GOD WE IRUST, no men or oars--- Jeff before he entered witness protection--- he be ugly. if there's 2 ---- there's more out there

Well, if it's not made with the appropriate alloy, maybe "In God We Rust" is appropriate. Don't know what the I stand for.

Could be someone in Ecuador or El Salvador doing it, they use U.S. currency and coin, and likely a nickel has more value in those countries than it's worth here.

There'd be a reason to make fake U.S. coins, even low denominations, to see if it's passable before working up to something of more value, practice makes perfect.
I'd thin El Salvador would be likely, with the migrants and asylum seekers coming here, this would be how something like that leaves circulation there, and winds up in circulation here. Probably away from the tourist areas you could get something to eat from a street vendor for even 5 cents I'd think a piece of fruit or something let's say.

The purpose of counterfeiting is to make a profit. This is LAW # 1 of the trade.

So if you could make a five cent coin for say 4 cents it would be a very profitable undertaking. Your profit would be 20 % over investment. So that is the why answer.

The question then becomes where could such a five cent coin actually pass. This answer is anyplace where it will not be noticed. If the weight is correct - it can pass into a coin counter or a vending machine. Since very few people actually look at five cent coins, I suspect it would even pass in the US (a few times anyway). So if you remember the second law of counterfeiting - that to be successful a counterfeit has to pass only one time - I would see the coin as potentially successful.

I am still in the market to purchase one of these counterfeit 5 cent coins to study it. If anyone has one please contact me.

Hello,

New to the forum but when it comes to the odd and lesser known info archives, I tend to find myself here.

To the point. I found this counterfeit today and wanted to share a bit of info I noticed about the odd features of this cool coin.

The Reverse is a "rotated die" as well as all other quarks related to the specimen. I have now learned that I can not post the pics in this comment. So if anyone is interested in a photo example I'd be happy to reply as the forum format is structured.

jrok

I would also love to see it as well. Posting pictures should not be an issue as long as you use the correct format to save the file and limit the size.

Please experiment.

Coin is in a flip (I know not recommend) so the orientation of obv and rev can be used to show degree of die rotation.