Or at least a very, very well done counterfeit. My coin collecting buddy is selling off his collection and I am buying up bits and pieces of it. I been trying to talk him out of this one... He has owned it since the 1960's when he inherited the piece from his mother..... This counterfeiter was quite the artist.
It is an average looking counterfeit. I saw one of the 5 on display in a Las Vegas show. This looks nothing like that one did.
I saw one of the originals last year at a coin show and agree that it looks nothing like a genuine piece. But studied this with a strong loupe and was impressed with the counterfeiters workmanship.
Randy, the novelty of having that piece as a 'hole filler' is worth whatever counterfeiting shortcomings it has. And I do recognize that no Whitman or Dansco would have a hole for it. Eddie, that's a darn nice coin right there. What I don't see in the picture is the armed guards watching over it. How many were overtly visible? I'm sure there were at least twice as many undercover, covertly keeping tabs on it.
I've seen that nickel myself (can't remember which show it was but years ago lol) still love the story of those nickles (if you don't know it, it's well worth looking up )
