I hope this hasn't been beaten like a dead horse but I'm looking at "Lots" of coins and eBay and I came across this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/280555359278 To me this is weird. Are these now essentially junk? Even though they may have been junk already before the plating. I don't know it just irks me to see this. It's like those American Eagles that are painted and make me want to puke when I see them. Is this legal? I'm sure it is but not sure it should be. Matt
The reason why they are gold plated is either because it is like a gold rackateer nickel which in 1883, people would gold plate them and pass them off as $5 gold coins which back then was a HUGE return of $4.95 for only a 5 cent piece and people want one just for a conversational piece or they want a rackateer nickel "even though there not genuinly old" or they just did it for fun but it is perfectly legal to do.
Yeah, the racketeer nickels sure got headlines. I have never personally seen one I would believe is genuine to the time. They may have made a few back then, but all I have seen over the years were made later.
Thanks, by making what I thought was a stupid post I learned a lot about something I had never heard of. I looked up these racketeer nickels, what a neat story. Matt
Yes they are junk, they were very low value items before they were plated, and yes it is perfectly legal to plate them.
