A "Henning Counterfeit" Nickel

Here are my two Hennings. One with the looped R and one without. The die mark for the non looped R is a tiny circle die chip above the building. To my knowledge this is on all reverses that do not have the looped R. I also have the signed book my Dwight Stuckey which is a fantastic read and can be rented from the ANA library. I got my copy on eBay after having been looking for a copy for about 3 years. They do not come around often.

 

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This is what a 1944 [no - "P"] Henning nickel looks like as made, in uncirculated condition (the details are lacking, but the mint luster is all there):

 

This thread had me searching some older Nickels and came across a 1952 that is a bit worn. A bit of the cuff but,
this one 1952 comes in at a 5.24 to 5.25g while the others are pretty much spot on at 4.98 to 5g. Is this weight difference normal?
Pic's are blurry but just trying to show the coin is a little worn.

 

@JCro57 has several of these that he sent to ICG to have graded. He also has a 1939 that I am sure he would love to show here. You don't see off date Hennings too often.

 

That doesn't make much sense. I would think that it would cost him a lot more to make them than 5 cents! But who knows. People do stupid things at times, and I'm just as guilty as anybody else in that department.

 

Peter your photos are blurry. It does seem heavy, but otherwise it's just a
circulated 1952 nickel. The tolerance range is +/- .194. So it is "slightly" heavy. The more drastic the weight, over or under the better. There may be a very slight premium. (A quarter?) I would keep it in a 2x2 coin flip and label the weight.
As for Henning, back in the day he was probably able to make these for 2 cents apiece. Trying to cash in bags of them at the bank was not a brilliant idea.

 

Agreed, it's a strange tale. But, it was the early 1950's, and the story goes that he found a source of blank nickel planchets. Making dies would be costly, or at least labor intensive, but a nickel planchet would have been cheap. I'm no expert and would love to hear a complete version of the story but it seems the details went to the grave with Francis Leroy Henning when he departed.

 

I know Mike, it's so blurry I really shouldn't of even posted it
Was just trying to show that Jefferson's image is somewhat worn which adds a little to why it weighs so much. So it's normal to find one at 5.24 to 5.25g..
The other 15 or so 40's to 70's all came in at 4.90 to 4.98g , one hit 5.

Yup, I will put it away, even though its not anything special.
Just to save "face" I took a better pic's..
I swear in hand the Jefferson's face looks more worn..

Also going to order one of these cheap cheap cheap cheap magnifying gizmo's.. Has to be better than my setup now.!

 

Being worn would not add to the weight. Being worn and circulated would slightly lessen the weight. (But just by very small fractions. Hundredths of a gram.)
The most obvious answer is that your nickel was probably struck on a slightly thicker planchet. The metal gets heated and rolled to a desired thickness before they make blanks out of it. Sometimes it's rolled too thinly, and sometimes it's rolled too thickly. That's why it weighs more, if all other factors are equal.

People will tell you that you have posted this in the wrong place. This thread is about Henning nickels, and you should have started your own separate thread.
I assume you are new and didn't know that, and those things don't bother me.

 

I worded it a bit confusing, I did mean it should be even a fraction lighter due to wear.
My first post I did mention being a bit off the cuff, kinda didn't want to start a thread of something that didn't amount to much and get scorned but yes guilty of truly spacing out of the original thread and continuing, so yup sorry my bad.
I did though read up on Henning's and read that maby there were more dates he could of made die's for.
Totally understand and i'm on quite a few forums that at times get of topic, I mean to the extreme. Most don't bother me either but I can see it for the good of the forum..
Thanx for the info Mike!

 

"It has been estimated that Henning produced almost a half-million of these nickels in 1954, and nearly 100,000 of them went into circulation before the Camden County Coin Collectors Club noticed the missing mint mark and tipped off the Secret Service early in 1955, who traced the operation back to Henning's home in Erial.

Unfortunately for the feds, Henning dumped an estimated 200,000 of his nickels in the Cooper River in Cherry Hill [NJ] before hightailing it out of town and fleeing to Cleveland, Ohio.

Only 12,000 of those coins have ever been recovered from that river. Another 200,000 may have been dumped into the Schuylkill River in Pennsylvania, none of which were ever found. Henning also produced the years 1939, 1946 and 1947 era nickels, but the 1944 without the identifying mark is the money coin for collectors."
The entire article can be read here:
https://www.courierpostonline.com/s...15/04/20/henning-nickel-counterfeit/26070351/

 

Thanks for posting the link, I've seen that article. Recommended reading for anyone watching this thread. It's also worth noting he was arrested earlier in life (1939 I think) for counterfeiting, and was also charged with intent to counterfeit $5 bills when he was arrested in Cleveland for counterfeiting the nickels. Some articles claim he paid 3-1/2 cents for the blank planchets, although he may have claimed this to authorities to understate the profitability of his operation.

Here's another neat article courtesy of the Augusta, GA, coin club
https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/564252?page=2

 

Interesting about him dumping the nickels in rivers. I think a thread mentioned previously about MacArthur dumping early Philippines silver pesos in the ocean to keep them from the invading Japanese, and someone previously posted about finding Stone Mountain halves in streams around the mountain in Georgia.

 

My spouse and I have a 1947 looped R Henning Nickel

 

Yup, that's one...easier to see this way: