I was watching ebay (bored) bids on a 1944 Henning nickel just to see how much folks would pay for a counterfeit coin. I was shocked when the final bid came in as $145.00 and had a huge scratch across Jeffersons face. I wouldn't mind having one but half that amount would be a stretch for me. What do you folks think about the Henning coins? Do you have any?
I don't own one...but I have always wanted one in my collection. Contemporary counterfeits are popular among collectors. This especially true when it comes to famous counterfeits with well known history. The Henning Nickel certainly falls into this category.
I just looked up what a Henning nickel is. That is super cool. Worth $100-150!!! I'll have to check if I have any, haha. It says he threw the nickels in a river. Makes me want to go find that river and find all of those counterfeit nickels lol.
Somewhere I have two of the 1944's, don't know which reverse. I got them long ago when they were much less well known and cheaper.
Henning was an engineer who apparently made his own dies...that's why there are a few different dates and varieties. He made thousands of them and when he knew that the Feds were coming for him, dumped the ones he still had in the river. Not sure which river but probably the Cooper near Camden, NJ. A large quantity were recovered by the FBI but I'm sure some are still there somewhere. I have one but no picture of it. Bruce
The picture above by scottishmoney shows one of the major diagnostics...the defective left leg of the R in Pluribus. There are others too, but more subtle. Bruce
That's an interesting observation. What stands out to me with this nickel, aside from the color not being your typical silvery grayish look for a worn war nickel, is the lack of a mint mark above Monticello. It's almost as if Henning was wanting to get caught and found out by this blatantly obvious omission.
I saw a post on reddit recently where someone found one roll searching. I'd love to find one that way.
I've never paid more than about $40 or so, I haven't bought one in awhile. I have several variations of them, there is another without the loop on the R in Pluribus that I have. I just need one of the 1939s to complete a type set.
I think he just missed it, NOS. I never saw anything suggesting otherwise. BTW, the counterfeits were discovered by a local coin collector for that very reason. At first he thoughtit was a mint error but later realized it was a countefeit. When he contacted the FBI he was ignored at first, but they later came to see that he was right. Bruce
Another cool thread on this https://www.cointalk.com/threads/finally-found-a-1939-henning-nickel.336891/
