Contemporary Henning Nickel or modern fake?

Is this a contemporary Henning counterfeit or some sort of modern (Chinese?) reproduction?

1944 no-MM Jefferson
Weight = 4.75gr

I know a couple of markers, but I want to hear from others.

 

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Looks like a Henning to me.

 

@Fred Weinberg I'd love to hear your input. I was under the impression the tells for Henning are weight, reverse die crack, and the damaged R in Pluribus.

 

It has the die marker at the left of the dome. And the R does have irregularities.

 

Which die marker? I'm not familiar with the one you mentioned. Got a link?

 

This?



And what about the weight? I thought they should be heavier than the real deal, not lighter.

 

Can I get a link for this? I appreciate the photo, but I like to read things myself

 

@micbraun I am not sure about the weight.
And yes that is the marker I was looking for. It is usually the best marker to identify the Henning

 

P.S. if this is true, I have a TON of nickels I now need to look for... I also need to know if this is on all Henning years or just 1944. Lots of questions!

 

It's dark at that spot but the OP coin looks to have the dot marker on the non looped R Henning.

 

The weight is not right for a Henning? The Counterfeit’s Weight is ~5.4 grams while the Jefferson Nickel is ~5.0 grams.
http://www.error-ref.com/henning-counterfeit-nickel/
If you are an ANA member you can borrow Stucky's book, see the link above, from the Dwight N. Manley Library. Located at the ANA’s Colorado Springs headquarters, the staff lends materials to members all over the world – for just the cost of postage and insurance.

 

Can anybody provide information on the expected weight? Should Henning nickels always be overweight?

@Paddy54 @paddyman98 @robec
@Conder101
@Insider

 

https://www.coincommunity.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=53117


As far as weight, the best I can do is give you the weights of the Henning nickels I have so far. I have 13 nickels dated 1944 with the hole in the R and the weights range from 5.2 - 5.4 grams. I have 12 nickels dated 1944 without the hole in the R and the weights range from 4.7 - 5.1 grams. I also have one nickel dated 1939 with the hole in the R and it weighs 5.3 grams. So it looks like Henning used a group of over weight planchets when he was striking nickels with the hole in the R. But he did strike nickels using planchets of the correct weight.

 

Per Stuckey's Book from coins submitted by A. Wayne Rowe and Walter L Williams
Note I converted grains to grams and in the book it also lists Diameter & Thickness
1944 5.4
1946 5.26
1947 5.3
1944 5.27
1944 5.23
From the JC Stevens & Bob Saylor Collections
1944 5.4
1939 5.4
1939 5.42
1947 5.33
Per the mint, "Mrs. Rae v. Biester, Superintendent" 756 lbs. of copper-nickel alloy confiscated planchets was melted and converted into the mints standard cupro-nickel make-up and converted into coinage ingots.
Nothing was noted in Stuckey's book about counterfeit planchets of the correct weight of 5.0 grams for the nickels struck by the US mint during this period. This is the first time that I know of that a counterfeit below 5.27 grams is being reported

 

Thanks for your detailed answer. I guess I just bought a errm... fake counterfeit...?

Note that the seller mentioned two markers:
1) the dot between IN and GOD on the obv
2) the s-shaped mark and dot left to the dome of Monticello on the rev
He also said the coin is not silver and the weight of Henning Nickels are all across the board (4.7 underweight - 5.4gr overweight).

 

Oh it looks like a Henning. Post 13 confirms the weight for the 1944 non R.
If this is a "fake" of a Henning they did a masterful job. I don't think they
could duplicate it that well. The strike, the patina, the mushy letters.
It's almost identical to the one in post 6.

 

The OP's coin is 100% a legit Henning.

 

Do you have a resource that supports this? I’ve never heard of an underweight Henning.

 

I can tell by looking at it.

Henning did not have a U.S. Mint production facility with layers of quality control. His weights for 1944s are all over the place. Over, under, etc.

 

And you learned this from...? That’s what I’m getting at. What about his weights for all the other years he counterfeited? I’m asking because I have a very large amount of nickels from those years but have nothing to go on besides weights and the R. How does one know it’s a Henning otherwise?