I've been doing a little bit of collecting Jefferson nickels and leaning toward war nickels specifically. War nickels are absolutely beautiful and tone like no others, IMO. Anyways, I was reading a bit and I'm wondering. Does anyone have a Henning nickel? Can you post a pic? Also, maybe you don't have one but do you have a story about having one in the past? Anyone? I got this blurb about henning and war nickels from wikipedia:: The wartime nickel features the largest mint mark ever to grace a United States coin, located above Monticello's dome on the reverse. This mark was a large D or S if appropriate for those mints, but nickels of this series minted in Philadelphia have the unique distinction of being the only U.S. coins minted prior to 1979 to bear a P mint mark. There are eleven coins in the regular series (plus a moderately scarce overdate, the 1943/2-P), and they can be purchased in circulated condition at low cost. When the price of silver rose in the 1960s the "war nickels" quickly disappeared from circulation, a process often aided by their distinctive silver-tarnish appearance, which sometimes appeared in banded form from contact of coins with sulfur-containing elastic bands in pockets. Many of these nickels were melted for their silver content. Accordingly, the mint production numbers are probably skewed when compared to other nickels. An unofficial variety of the wartime coin dated 1944 was made in 1954 when counterfeit nickels were produced by Francis LeRoy Henning of Erial, New Jersey. He had previously been arrested for counterfeiting $5 bills. The 1944 nickels were quickly spotted since Henning neglected to add the large mintmark.[3] He also made counterfeit nickels dated 1939, 1946, 1947, and possibly 1953 as well as one other unidentified date.[4] It is estimated that more than 100,000 of Henning's nickels reached circulation. These can still be found in pocket change, and there is a thriving collectors' market for them, although owning a counterfeit is technically illegal. Henning dumped another 200,000 nickels in Copper Creek, New Jersey, of which only 14,000 were recovered. Another 200,000 are thought to have been dumped in the Schuylkill River. When caught, Henning was sentenced to 3 years in jail, and was required to pay a $5,000 fine.
Owning a counterfeit US coin in the United States is definitely illegal. Though if you don't try and sell it there is no real crime as I see it. My dad was a banker (and a coin collector) and once in awhile back in the 1960's he would show me a counterfeit coin that the bank had found. Most were half dollars made of lead and were pretty easy to spot. He was an honest banker though and never let me keep any of them for my budding collection. I suspect there are Henning nickels out there but you probably won't find them on eBay due to their illegal status.
I have seen them, and even seen them on eBay, but they are elusive. BTW I really want one sometime, they are one of the most famous forgeries ever of a US coin.
Flogging a Dead Horse Not exactly illegal to own... It is against the law to buy or sell counterfeit money. You can appreciate that, I am sure. (People who buy and sell counterfeits on eBay are breaking federal law. If you can traffic in a quarter, you can traffic in a quarter million. There is no difference. Both are illegal activities.) However, you can come into possession of counterfeit money innocently, as the Banker Dad did. Now, the bank is stuck with it, a clear loss, but absent an intent to defraud, it is innocent possession. That said, counterfeit money is contraband and can be seized without a warrant.
Which is why counterfeit coins are referred to as "black cabinet" collectibles. Only the most trustworthy of friends get to see them.
There was a fairly good thread on Henning nickels a few months back I seem to recall, but there are MANY threads that discuss them, here's what a search turned up, keyword: "henning" The thread I recall had a decent website that covered the history of the man. Many of the threads have images of the coins you are looking for examples of. hya:
I think this was the link I was looking for. However, the page seems to have been taken down. I looked it up on archive.org using the 'waybackmachine' but there's only a little text remaining on that page, black type on black background, so you'd have to 'select all' to see any of it, of which there's little left to read.
They are collectible, and I do see them for sale from time-to-time at coin shows. I do suppose that technically, since they are copies and not marked as such, they would be illegal due to nonconformation with the Hobby Protection Act. That being said, anyone with knowledge of what they have would be foolish to try to spend it as a nickel, as its collector value is much higher. I would think that this argument would protect one from any legal action. I have a single example, which I actually found while sorting through a pile of Jefferson nickels. I don't have a pic at this moment, but I'll try to get one in the next day or two.
HPA does not apply because they were made before the passage of the act. The Henning nickels are a neat item. I own two of them, both 1944's.
I looked up and found where a pic was posted. I guess I need to look more carefully when ppl are selling unappealing war nickels. Anyways, here's that link with a small pic. Henning did a very good job, at least from the example used. Interesting, for sure!! http://www.cointalk.com/t72189/
I have two 1944s that will be back from being slabbed by ICG. Here they are raw. I will post them when I get them back in a few days
I sold Two Henning Nickels on Ebay not very long ago... had no problem. They are very interesting, and learning about them was cool... Still not sure WHY someone would counterfeit nickels, though! LOL! https://www.ebay.com/itm/1944-HENNI...726167?hash=item33d9ff6797:g:vckAAOSwa81Z53Dx https://www.ebay.com/itm/1944-HENNI...119560?hash=item33d95d8f88:g:MpEAAOSwK~RZ53Cc
Perhaps he was trying with nickels and then intended to move on to quarters and halves. You know, see how far he could go but start with a nickel first that would be less suspicious
Copies or counterfeit coins made before 1973 are perfectly legal to buy/sell/trade/own as long as there is no intent to defraud involved. Any made after the HOA are required to be marked "COPY", but who does that? 中国人当然不是
As the laws are currently interpreted these coins are legal to buy, sell, and trade. The law is simply interpreted to mean it's illegal to counterfeit or alter a coin to defraud. It would be illegal to mint these today since they'd be in violation of laws against counterfeiting but even coins in violation can be bought or sold as counterfeits. Like all laws this one could be reinterpreted at any time and has been interpreted in the past to make trading in these illegal, I believe.
I've always thought that of all of the counterfeiters there have been, our buddy Henning was perhaps the dumbest of them all.
We describe all this confusion and answers in these two books: Forgotten Coins: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1981898042/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Counterfeit Portrait 8 Reales: https://www.amazon.com/Counterfeit-...rd_wg=4lQgw&psc=1&refRID=QV539QNA2YFP5J2MXPZ7 In the second book in the first 200 pages we go into great detail on why you can sell counterfeits on E-Bay. Not Chinese Modern Forgeries. What's the difference? CLICK ABOVE. Use the LOOK INSIDE tab by both front covers to preview. EBAY does prohibit Modern Forgeries but NOT contemporary circulating counterfeits. The word Contemporary can be confusing ... in this particular definition ... <BG>. JPL
