What he said on both counts. I was at a business that does casting just last Friday to do a Quality Audit. That line is not from a cast no matter what you want to believe. Sorry BTW - in case you want to look the company name up it is Gupta - it's in the same area I live in. You could ask them and they would tell you the same thing.
I have lots of nickels whose "color is off", and lots who are not "shiney". Those indicators are meaningless. The "not round" can be done to a real coin, but not easily without secondary damage. The scratch you reference is absolutely not a casting line. A casting line would go all the whole way around parallel to the rim. The simple fact that the coin weighs 5 grams pretty much says that it is not a casting. It is nearly impossible to cast something with the proper density. Castings tend to be porous and lower density.
The images are inconclusive and this would be a nice "discovery piece" if in fact someone of unscrupulous means made a bunch of bogus nickels. You have to take into account that when Henning produced his hoard of counterfeit nickels, a nickel had a bit of buying power, unlike today's standard and he also picked the lowly nickel so as to be not noticed when presented as change. I have seen way to many detector finds where the exact condition in the appearance of your coin vs. the dug coin (especially acid soil conditions) match up. I'm in the camp of environmental damage and not a spurious reproduction. Happy Collecting
you can send them off to the only grading company i will ever use again. they are so cheap and are very fare. all my coins came back ms70, just like they should! send it to pfgs (pandas fare grading service) make sure you mark the envelope "basement" so they make it to the right part of the house.....i am office:goofer:
Hobo, I did not mean to chastise you or anyone else for that matter. That said, I am through with the discussion as well. thank you
Come on... if you're so confident it's a counterfeit, send it in to PCGS. I already offered to pay for it if it gets bodybagged as not genuine. It's a bet, if you would.
Is it made of nickel? it takes 8 cents worth of copper/nickel to make a nickel, and add casting expenses, there's not much profit there
I was looking at a counterfeit detection site, they had bus tokens being counterfeited, a local dealer has a counterfeit 1983 quarter. People mention the common sense of why fake a common nickel, but I hate to break it to you all, many criminals are dumb. I knew one guy who beat and robbed a guy for a 10 dollar radio, he is serving life because the guy he robbed died from the beating. I have not seen the coin in hand, fretboard has, when it comes to dealing with criminals throw common sense out the window. Heck you can buy common wheat cent counterfeits from china, There is one thing that hobo said, and that is the coin had a broken die collar, I have heard of cuds, chips, clips, that is the first time I heard of a broken collar, maybe that coin has a future? Keep looking into it, and let us know what you find out.
I do not know for absolute certain that I have a countfeit nickel! It could be enviromental damage for all I know and some of y'all could be right. I am certainly not gonna send it off to be graded, let's be real here it's a nickel. Maybe it's not a casted coin at all but until I find out more information I have nothing more to say on the subject. I apologize if I offended anyone at all by being so cocky. The truth is I posted just as an fyi only, maybe I should have titled it as "possible" counterfeit. I'm here living and learning just like everyone else. thanks
Fret - how is the rotation of the coin ? what is the odds of a counterfeit nickel with the correct rotation ? just looks like a nickel that has a hard life
Fret, I was one who posted early on that I didn't think it was a counterfeit. I don't think any of us were trying to do anything more than play devil's advocate that some things you were pointing to were not in fact signs of a counterfeit. You say you posted it as an FYI, but if we see a FYI and we do not believe it is a counterfeit, I think we owe it to other readers to disagree, that is all. A modern counterfeit nickel would indeed be interesting, especially because of the denomination. Please let us know if you find anything more about it out.
Counterfeit nickels do exist. Heres a new one I found stuck to the banks coin machine magnet(it is magnetic).Its a 2004 D Lewis and Clark nickel! I think its a pretty good fake. Except for the "in god we IRUST" on the obverse.The smushed face and boat just look a little worn at first glance. I also found a dime and a quarter just like this one. I had my teacher, who is an NGC grader, take a look at it. He told me it was a counterfeit within a few seconds. I couldnt, and didnt want to believe somebody would take the time to fake dimes and nickels. How could it be financially profitable? I suspect the chinese government.
Why do you believe its not profitable? You said yourself its magnetic. I bet you the cost per unit on this is around a cent, maybe 2. Copper nickel that we make our coins from is a pretty pricey metal mixture compared to steel. Also, out minting costs are much steeper than what a counterfeiter could do it for. People are amazed all of the time at low value fakes, but money is money. Crank out 100,000 of these, (wouldn't take long on a press), and your gross profit would be $3,000. Not horrible, especially in some parts of the world.
Trick? Like for what? Does it use its magnetic properties to facilitate a magic trick? Is the coin bendable or something?
So if I were to sell this coin on ebay, I have a few days to sell it as a copy coin per their new policy that goes into effect Feb. 20. Or B, I can sell it as a magician's bauble and make 5x the money (which in this case 25 cents). Hmmmm...what to do.
Funny this thread popped up. 2 days ago one of my friends got a nickel out of the coffee machine at work and brought it to me. I told him the nickel wasnt silver but it has a higher pitched soind when dropped on the table or marble. He gave it to me and I believe its on top of my fridge right now. I thought "its fake", then it hot me like everyone else, how could it be profitable to fake nickels?