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 Replies: 19 / Views: 1,437 |
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New Member
United States
24 Posts |
I was talking with my dad about Liberty nickels a few days ago when he mentioned this particular one and I thought the story of it was interesting, an 1883 Racketeering Nickel    |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
1298 Posts |
That makes no cents  Pretty cool! First I heard of these.  |
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New Member
 United States
24 Posts |
Thanks! If you haven't heard the story about them: according to the legend, a guy named Josh Tatum (allegedly a deaf mute) became friends with a guy who was good at electroplating and started gold plating these. Next thing you know, he was passing them off as $5 gold coins after the fact, and when he'd go to get 5 cent cigars, he'd get $4.95 back in change every time he'd done so. At some point that caught up with him.
The story goes that once he was caught and being brought up for the charges of racketeering using illegal/counterfeit currency, no one would, or even could say anything about it because he couldn't hear or talk, and so he was exonerated of all charges. The story has never been confirmed to be real or true, but it's what inspired the name of the "Racketeering Nickel." It was also suggested that his name inspired the use of the phrase "Just Joshin" when you were kidding around/messing with someone.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2969 Posts |
Nice, a $5 gold piece.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
528 Posts |
Very cool.
Welcome to the CCF!
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Moderator
 United States
162571 Posts |
Very nice! |
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New Member
United States
24 Posts |
Thank you @Adam and everyone! Happy to be here |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
18328 Posts |
Inordinately fascinated by bits of metal with strange markings and figures
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New Member
United States
24 Posts |
Yeah I have this bookmarked. I don't see why ICG would mark it as genuine if it was fake, but they've got a cool story to them either way.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5554 Posts |
Nice looking example - alot of them have some of the plating wearing off.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
58518 Posts |
Pretty cool story and history behind it. Errers and Varietys.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1230 Posts |
And hence, now we likely know why 1883 had two types - No Cents and Cents.
Thanks for sharing, very interesting.
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Valued Member
United States
405 Posts |
NIce coin. Love the story. I've always wanted one of those.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1183 Posts |
The problem with racketeer nickels is that they're hard to prove legit. Over the decades some unscrupulous people/businesses gold-plated 1883 V-nickel inventory so that they could move out the old inventory lying about just to make a few extra bucks. So, it's hard to tell what's real and what's not. Some believe that if there's no wear of the plating from the coin and it looks to good to be true that it's automatically one of the more recent coins gold-plated fake racketeer nickels. I, personally, can't say either way. I don't know what the graders are looking for in their determination for authenticity. The V-nickels were heavily circulated during their time. Could some people have put some nice ones to the side and thus there are still some really nice ones today? Of course, they could have done that. But, that's the dilemma with the racketeer nickels. I'd love to dig one up with a metal detector so I could tell myself I have a real one.....no doubts about it. I hope you enjoy yours though. It looks nice. That grader of that coin knows more than I do on the subject. Btw. I believe it states "genuine" on the holder because it is not able to be graded due to the gold plating on the coin. Other third-party graders ( TPG) do similar on the holders when they can't give a numeric grade when asked. Edited by DoctorBurnzy
01/19/2025 11:45 am
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New Member
United States
24 Posts |
Yeah, this is definitely one of those pieces where I don't ever plan on selling it, but definitely telling the story about because it's an extension of the Liberty nickel (my personal favorite coins that aren't gold/silver). |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1183 Posts |
I really enjoy the proof V-nickels; however, I recently picked up a Dansco V-nickel album on the cheap never used. I go to this coin show in MA that occurs every 3 - 4 months which falls on the 5th Sunday of a month when that happens to occur. There are a few dealers there that have from time to time some very nice raw V-nickels. I hope to pick a couple up soon.
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Replies: 19 / Views: 1,437 |
Posted 01/18/2025 3:48 pm
