Finally, after 14 years true evidence of the 1927 Buffalo Nickel Counterfeit ring

jesbroken

In 2009 I ran across a newspaper article about a counterfeit ring being busted in Goshen, NY regarding the counterfeiting of a 1927 Buffalo Nickel to the tune of 5 million(not likely). I spent about a year going through many newspaper stories of the event and was pretty much shut down by the powers that be as to either its existence or that it was so minor as to not be worthy of investigation. It did amaze me as to how many people in this business had not even heard of it. Then, there might be a reason to that, only with all of the newspaper articles saying this great amount, I thought it truly odd no articles written to counter these "facts". So I continued wasting my time.
3 times over 14 years I have requested thru(what I thought was) an FOIA request, only to find November of 2022 I was filing it wrong. So I filed again last year and Voila they responded. Rather than me repeating it, I will note only that the Secret Service would not comment on the unknown amount of production, only the actual found counterfeits.

Below is one of many newspaper articles regarding the counterfeit ring. At the 2009 Baltimore Show, I contacted several Accredited Coin Authors(most have now passed), none of them either knew of the coin(s) or thought it to be untrue. So, who was I to disbelieve them? I dropped it and then a member here contacted me in regards to being in the Goshen, NY area and got me started again in its regard. I'm just interested to know if any were actually placed into circulation. The papers of the day say as many as 5 million. The Secret Service agent of the arrest Allan Straight says the coins were near perfect from the following newpaper article.

"OSWEGO PALLADIUM-TIMES. MONDAY. MARCH 4, 1935

U. S. Agents Think Counterfeit Ring Broken With Three Arrests.- GOSHEN, N. Y., March UPI -

A flood of fake 5-cent pieces in eastern states was believed ended today with the arrest of
three men
in a farmhouse near here by Treasury Department agents. Government agents said the men,
Leo Ehlers, 42; his brother, George 40, and Leo Gailie, 39, were members of a counterfeit ring which
has disposed of from $200,000 to $250,000 in spurious 5-cent coins in the past five and a half years.
Three- hydraulic presses, one of four and a half tons, with a total capacity of 15,000 to 20,000 nickels
a day, agents said, were found in the basement of an abandoned farmhouse near Goshen.
Metal
lathes, a gasoline power plant and other tools were found.-
A large quantity of nickel silver which costs but a. fraction of a cent for eajch "nickel"
produced
between 2,000 and 3,000 newly finished coins and from 8,000 to 10,000 slugs ready for stamp
ing also were
seized.
Alan C. Straight, chief of Treasury Department agents in New York City, led the raiding party
and said the coins were a "nearly" perfect imitation of the "buffalo nickel and bore the dates of 1925,
1927 and 1929. Trailing of the gang, he said, was extremely difficult as the fake coins were distributed through
highly organized agents who purchased them at 50 cents on the dollar. An added difficulty was the "method
of placing the coins in circulation through telephone and vending machines."
Louis Ehlers and Gailie were found in the building when the raiders crashed in early
yesterday while George Ehlers was arrested when he drove up to the farm house. The three
will be arraigned before United States Commisioner at Peekskill today."

FINAL: Now my opinion is that due to the lack of sentencing that occurred the crime must have been minor. One received 6 months in jail, the brother was sentenced to a suspended sentence and the other's charges dropped. So to think that 5 million counterfeit nickels were introduced into circulation would indeed be crazy and it would amaze me to find that roughly 1 out of 9 nickels in circulation for 1927(in 1934 and after) were counterfeit. I feel I agree with David Lange, who told me in 2009 it was blown out of proportion and none were left in existence. I must assume the newspaper articles all got their info from the same source and was not accurate. So, I will drop the search and apologize to the Secret Service for my bashing of their nonresponses to my FOIA requests as I was not following procedures and once I did I had an answer in under 5 months.
Jim

ricko

@jesbroken... Thanks for that interesting analysis and summary Jim. I would think that some likely made it into circulation, but certainly not mega-quantities. I wonder if anyone has some of the fakes so PUP's could be identified. Cheers, RickO

TomB

Interesting thread. I would also assume that none of the folks working for the government at the time in this case was an expert numismatist and would take the "nearly perfect" part into question. Thank you for posting this information.

Namvet69

Very interesting, I'd like to see an example with pups.

BuffaloIronTail

I would definitely like to know what the PUPs are on the counterfeits. It's obvious to me that the huge amount of Nickels produced would reap a quantity that made it out of the coining room.

Henning ain't got nothing on these guys.

They probably could have become the 4th Mint in the nation if they went legit with all that heavy equipment, with a "G" mintmark.

A 1927-G Nickel.

How cool!

Pete

CaptHenway

The 1925 counterfeit mentioned in the article might be the counterfeit shown in this thread. My 1925 counterfeit is from the same dies, so I never bothered to picture it.

I never got around to submitting the article either.

https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/1006179/unusual-1925-buffalo-nickel-what-say-you/p1

jesbroken

@ricko said:
@jesbroken... Thanks for that interesting analysis and summary Jim. I would think that some likely made it into circulation, but certainly not mega-quantities. I wonder if anyone has some of the fakes so PUP's could be identified. Cheers, RickO

. Anyone a member of the Elgin, IL coin club? Supposedly a Doug there in the club(secretary, I believe) has a Counterfeit 1927 Buffalo nickel that he showed during a December 5, 2007 meeting at the club. Found this info googling years ago, but could never contact any members nor the secretary Doug. Any help would be appreciated.
Jim

Tom147

Makes me wonder if our hosts have graded any of these Buffalos, how many have been submitted and found counterfeit in proportion to other years.

jesbroken

I feel that if their was truly millions of these in circulation, it would have been written about and categorized by the very authors who studied them. Therefore, I believe either so very few were created, that if any actually reached circulation it would not not have been many. If indeed, they were of such a high quality as to be unidentifiable, what difference could it make. Just another nonannounced event.
Jim

jt88

@jesbroken, nice post. thanks.

1Bufffan

Thanks for the information, glad you were able to research and find some answers. always an interest to Buff collectors just wish we could find some nice examples to study.

1northcoin

Curious if they ever attempted to make 3 legged ones.

jesbroken

If what I read in 2008 was true, they were involved with vending machine owners in the NYC area(maybe hundreds) they sold them the nickels for 3 cents and made a profit of 2 cents, so I don't think they would have even considered 3 legged buffalo nickels 3 years before the U.S. Mint came up with the error. This occurred in 1934. What I always wondered how they got these ultra heavy machines into a cellar out in the middle of a forest in 1934. The equipment that would have been required to move and lift such machines would be very large and quite noticeable. Trees would have had to been removed, most likely, and where did they get the dies, none were engravers, just small time crooks. Perhaps, someone larger was involved who managed to keep it on the down lo. lol
Who knows, I'm sure I never will. I know that a forum member contacted me a couple years ago and told me , that he was related to the Ehlers and would check the local newpapers to see what follow ups occurred. Not sure what happened to him.
Jim

vplite99

It's amazing to me that a nickel was worth counterfeiting.

CaptHenway

@vplite99 said:
It's amazing to me that a nickel was worth counterfeiting.

Raw materials were very cheap during the Great Depression. Factories were closing and industrial machinery could be had for a song. My Grandfather was a machinist and he went without a paycheck for 18 months, so skilled labor was available cheap.
I’m just surprised that they set it up out in the country.

jesbroken

It was found accidentally while searching for a moonshine operation. They found this old ramshackle farmhouse in the woods and was at first afraid to go into it as it looked so decrepit but then heard a gasoline engine running and when they investigated found the counterfeiting facility in the cellar.
Jim

jmlanzaf

@1northcoin said:
Curious if they ever attempted to make 3 legged ones.

They wouldn't have known that such a thing existed in 1935

crazyhounddog

Very cool article and story I’ve never heard before. Thanks for sharing it buddy.
I’ll now go over my nickels😜