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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;JCro57, post: 4002766, member: 92083&quot;]The following is a counterfeit/replica of what some refer to as the &quot;Hofmann&quot; mule cent, which despite having the year 1959 it dons a &quot;Wheat&quot; instead of a &quot;Memorial&quot; reverse as it should have; below the two sides is the actual Hofmann cent, which itself has a questionable authenticity.</p><p><br /></p><p>Reportedly, during the early-mid 1980s, a rare-documents treasure hunter and dealer in Salt Lake City, Utah named Mark Hofmann gained notoriety by &quot;discovering&quot; historically significant early Morman Church artifacts (including Mormon paper currency), some of which served to potentially change the course of Mormon recorded history. In addition, he seemed to somehow come up with very rare documents with signatures of America&#039;s Founders and signers of the <i>Declaration of Independence</i>, classical writers/poets, and other historical notables.</p><p><br /></p><p>Hofmann easily found buyers and sold his treasures for multiple thousands of dollars to private collectors and Mormon Church officials. His documents were deemed genuine by professional museum curators, university professors and researchers, forensic document examiners, and even the FBI; this only furthered his reputation and the prices of his artifacts continued to sell quickly to eager buyers.</p><p><br /></p><p>However, two potential investors whose suspicions started rising planned on meeting with Hofmann to inquire and authenticate some documents Hofmann planned to sell them. Incredibly, before the meeting was to take place, both men were sent pipe bombs; one bomb killed one of the investors which detonated at his office, while another bomb was sent to the residence of the other investor killing his wife.</p><p><br /></p><p>No sooner did that happen that police soon learned of a third pipe bomb explosion, this one severely injuring Hofmann himself which detonated inside his vehicle. <i><b>Who done it?</b></i></p><p><i><b><br /></b></i></p><p>After police questioned Hofmann about the circumstances of the explosion, they immediately suspected Hofmann as the bomber at all three locations because his account did not match forensic evidence found in his vehicle. They believe Hofmann just carelessly handled his own bomb intended for another target, but why? (And how did he manage to pass a polygraph test given by the police? Perhaps he had taken a sedative to relax him; not sure if he was also tested for that after, but he should have been.) Why would Hofmann want potential customers of his rare and extremely valuable documents dead?</p><p><br /></p><p>The answer: Because Hofmann was afraid he was finally going to be exposed as a fraud along with all of his documents he sold. In fact, police obtained a warrant to search his home and found several forging instruments and incriminating evidence leaving no doubt this brilliant man was deviously devoting his talents to a very complex criminal operation. New document examiners discovered there were similar writing styles on vastly different documents from different time periods, that the ink didn&#039;t match what was used during some of the time periods, and even how the ink had bled and dried into the paper. Rather than be discovered, he constructed pipe bombs with mercury switches that detonate when the package (and bomb inside it) is handled and tipped a certain way.</p><p><br /></p><p>Anyway, when news of this 1959-D &quot;mule&quot; cent hit the news, Hofmann immediately took credit for it. In fact, he even claimed it was secretly confiscated from his home when he was arrested and it was never turned in for evidence. He did have a better-than-average knowledge of the coin minting process, and the man who initially claimed to have found it had a connection to - you guessed it - Utah. If anyone could have made this mule cent, it could have very well been Mark Hofmann; he did also make several fake coins before. But this egotistical psychopath could very easily just want to claim credit to garner more media attention, and after all, he is a proven liar. So who really knows if he made it or not. Hofmann was later convicted of murder and is serving a life sentence.</p><p><br /></p><p>The Hoffman mule cent was sent to Treasury officials who deemed the coin was authentic, but the researcher there was actually a currency expert. (I believe the Treasury Department analyzed it a second time and again stated it was a genuine Mint product.) Professional grading companies refused to certify it as authentic, yet it sold a few times over the years, including just recently for $50,000.</p><p><br /></p><p>Is it genuine? Who knows. I say, probably not.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1053782[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1053783[/ATTACH]</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1053812[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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