1944 Henning Nickel

No, Henning made several different dies and the looped R is only one of them. The 44 no mintmark Henning usually comes with the loop R but some were made with a non-looped R as well.

So Mr. Henning only used that particular reverse die for the 1944? I was asking, so I could find a die-marker that will indicate a Henning nickel in other years. After reading this thread and other similar ones, it seems obvious that weight alone will not prove positive. I have become familiar with the visual appearance however. I'm pretty sure I could pick out a possible "Henning" out of a pile of Nickels. It's the positive I.D. I would like to work on.
I was looking on-line for a while for the book mentioned earlier. "The Counterfeit 1944 Jefferson nickel" By Dwight H. Stuckey
I've not had much luck.

Why would someone want to counterfeit nickels, Just go with halves or dollars. It dosent make sense to me.

If I remember correctly, Henning thought he could pull it off since he could buy the planchets wholesale for about 3.5 cents each. Of course, his equipment was probably quite expensive, and most sources I read state that his operating costs far exceeded his extremely minor profits. It was a basic accounting error on his part.

Also, if I remember, all Henning nickels were made from the same planchet, which was basically similar to the standard CuNi planchet, but with traces of iron. At any rate, that would be a simple test for all questionable '44 nickels. While it's not "proper" coin maintenance, War Nickels emit a slightly different ring than regular nickels when they are flipped--the silver lowers the frequency of the sound just enough that a good pair of ears can hear the difference. You could test the nickel with a flip test alongside a known War Nickel and a regular nickel. If the questionable nickel matches the pitch of the War Nickel, it's a grease error. If it doesn't match, it's a Henning.

The Henning story has always fascinated me. I'm struck by the irony that years later, we have collectors who actually *want* to get one of these in their change, and that these fakes are now worth much more than their face value!

I think there are some Hennings with the looped R that are not 1944's.

I'm not an attorney and can't give legal advice, but I believe it's only illegal if you try to pass it off as official US currency. Not that there's really any difference, if you know what I mean.

Nice one pyrbob! I'm looking for one with the "hole" in the R now.