1974 Aluminum Lincoln Memorial Cent - Don't Freak Out.

I believe they're encased in acrylic. No way to weigh them.

I do know that. I highly doubt their authenticity, but I think with all the information I have discovered makes me want to look into.

1) The coins given to senators were prototypes (No one would know what prototype 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 looked like).

2) In the late 70s and early 80s would someone have had the resources to pinpoint a single senator out and stage the paperweight in a bag. Mom says she has had them since 1980 and my grandma bought them in 1978 (but who knows)

I have read the newspapers and congressional reports regarding the penny online and it was a pretty big story in the 70s, so fakes were probably around very early.

3) Maybe after his arrest someone thought it would be easy to sell fake pennies connecting him and the theft.

If anyone wants to know the backstory and location of the bank I can share.

I have done that. I could be wrong but much if not all of Lucite was made in Canada.

Here is the part of the story that gets me once again:

The deposit bag. A small town(considered a village) bank bag ends up half way across the United States with fake aluminum pennies.

A) Would have to be from the area to obtain a bank bag

B) Would have to counterfeit pennies

Without the small town bank bag and congressman who was twice a republican delegate for the national convention which resided in this small town and was later arrested for fraud(stealing for personal gain), I would absolutely assume they're fake. Tomorrow I will weigh them in the case and see what the number comes out to.

To my knowledge the 1974 Al cents were business strikes, not mirrored proofs or glossy some would say. They are pics of genuine pieces available on Google Images. Take a look and you'll likely agree you have a replica set in a nice holder.

I can't pick them up in hand due to the casing. I had read in other places that proofs were released. I purposely tilted the case to get the light to reflect off the coins.

For anyone interested I have found out congressmen were given the coins to look at. I found some congressional reports to verify this.

West Point Mint began manufacturing pennies in 1973 (no evidence to support they made aluminum pennies)

I will probably try to remove them from the casing to be able to weigh them.

I personally collect coins for the history not the value, so I enjoy learning new facts about the US government and metal fluctuations throughout history.

I doubt that can be done without scratching the coins. I don't think you will ever get them out. It's not like the Lucite will fall away and leave you with clean coins. It will be on those coins -- quite possibly for all eternity. So imagine chipping away at it while looking though a microscope....

You might be better off with an antique dealer -- and forget about the coins for now -- and see if you can't get a definite history about the desk set items.

People do weird stuff to coins all the time -- making novelty items is just one of them.

pretty cool story...i'll be following this thread! :)

Those appear to be all large dates.

Aluminum pennies should be small dates.