Hello! I found this coin in my dad's old collection. It appears to be a Liberty "V" Nickel with gold plating. I thought this was incredibly strange, so I looked at a few articles on the internet. I soon realized that this coin was possibly a "Racketeer Nickel." (If you don't know what this is, Here's the website I learned this from: http://coinsite.com/the-1883-racketeer-nickel/) The coin I have has the correct date, and is correctly missing the "cents", but it does not have ridges cut into it. It is smooth on the side. Could this be a "Racketeering Nickel?" Or is it a defaced Liberty "V" Nickel? (Better pictures can be provided if needed) Thanks for the help!
Interesting article, never heard of them till now, but could have some nice history to it even if its not worth much.
Supposedly. I have never seen one that I would believe was authentic to the timeframe. The problem I always had with the story of the racketeer nickel was that $5 was a lot of money back then. People were careful what they accepted for such a some. I would say $5 then might be equal to $300-500 today. If someone tried to pay you with a highly unusual $500 bill, how carefully would you be looking at it? This, and the fact the weight is so distinctly different, I cannot imagine anyone who had handled real half eagles being fooled by a plated nickel. So, because of these things I have always considered the story pretty spurious. Yeah, a few people might have tried it, but I would guess not very successfully. The thing is, though, the newspapers got a hold of the story and ran with it, putting pressure on the mint to change their design. That part is very true, and is also the reason why this type is so cheap to buy today in BU grades. I simply believe nearly all, if not all, gold plated nickels in people's collections today were done long after the fact to sell to collectors. All in all, its a good story for every US collector to know though. Its a great lesson proving that coins that everyone believes will be collectible one day won't be. Its usually the coins no one pays attention to that become valuable.
I've always thought the story about Josh Tatum was great, even if it is only based on a small grain of truth.
There is one writer, I forget who -- who goes nuts whenever he hears that the expression "you're joshing me" came from this. [Josh Tatum was a deaf mute who supposedly went into cigar stores and bought a 5 cent cigar with the coin. Since he was a deaf mute no one could prove that he asked for change. He merely accepted it. He was found not guilty at trial.] He (the writer) insists that it is mere legend, and absolutely no basis in fact.
It'd be interesting to see if someone could dig up old legal documents showing Josh Tatum was taken to court for fraud.
Racketeering Nickels have always been one of my favorite "coin stories". I agree with the others that it's highly likely it was done later and not original. Still a great piece to own as an example and a good conversation piece to non-collectors who ask about your coins.
