1883 No Cents Nickel Dipped in Gold Story

Nocerino18

I am compiling stories for my website and would appreciate any information people can post on this subject.

dthigpen

There was once a 1883 No Cent Liberty Nickel dipped in Gold. Home Shopping Network sold it for $500 as a limited edition commemorative of this one year type. Some old lady bought it. End of story.

Hoot

Check out the April 2005 Coin Values for the story on "Racketeer nickels," which is what you're describing.

Hoot

relayer

When the mint replaced the shield nickel with the liberty head nickel, the reverse just had a Roman numeral "V".

Even though the coins were silver and thus the Mint assumed everyone would know it was a nickel, people would add a layer of gold hoping that people would take them as a $5 gold piece.

A drifter would go into a store and buy an item for a nickel and put a gold plated 1883 Liberty head nickel on the counter. If the merchant took it and put it in the register, the con man would just leave with his purchase. But if the merchant gave him $4.95 in change, then he'd be ahead.

That's how they became to be named the "Racketeer Nickels" and the Mint added the word "CENTS" later that year.

Zug

If I recall the story that I heard years ago about the drifter, he was a deaf mute named Josh Tatum.He would go into a store with one of these gold plated nickels, and point at a five cent item. If the owner noticed it was only a nickle he was out nothing, but if it was mistaken for a five dollar gold he pocketed the change and left. I also was told that he was tried on charges of fraud, but was found innocent as the only things he tried to purchase cost only a nickle, and he could not speak to tell the store owner there had been a mistake made with the change.
Supposedly this is where the old saying, " just Joshing" came from.

Conder101

The Josh Tatum story is the traditional way the story goes, but it is a fiction. Yes some people did gold plate the coins and pass them as half eagles but Josh Tatum and his trial never happened. And the use of the term Josh to mean to trick or fool, dates back to at least the 1830's so "Josh Tatum and the golden nickels" is NOT where "just joshing you" came from. It makes a great story though.

Nocerino18

Is it possible for anyone to cut and paste the article from coin values on the forum

BASEagle

might be a small copyright problem with that.


Mike

Nocerino18

Or just the link. I just want to read it and can't find it.

Hoot

You can order a copy of the April 2005 Coin Values for $3.50 HERE

Hoot

Regulated

I love the story of the Racketeer Nickel, so I when a dealer that I've known for years offered me a Racketeer Cent, my interest was piqued. I went over to his table, and he set out a velvet pad, at the center of which was an Indian Cent, reverse up. Curiously, the coin had been silvered (and had evidently spent some time in circulation that way). When I looked closer, I noticed that the edge had been painstakingly reeded, to simulate a dime. Needless to say, I was impressed, having never seen anything quite like it; however, I was much more impressed when I turned the coin over and saw the date - 1877.

I think it might be the coolest altered coin that I have ever bought.

Nocerino18

Thanks for the link.