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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;coinzip, post: 2394359, member: 10938&quot;]&quot;Just joshing you&quot; came from the late 1800&#039;s and has a very interesting story behind it! </p><p>Josh Tatum was a deaf mute, but a very enterprising young man from the midwest. In 1883 the US Mint came out with a new nickel. It was deemed the Liberty Head Nickel and on the reverse side had a large roman numeral V stamped on it. The new nickel did not have the word &quot;cents&quot; or &quot;nickel&quot; stamped on it. Josh Tatum noticed this and the fact that it was nearly the same size as the US $5.00 gold piece, which at the time was used as common currency. With the help of a friend familiar in gold electroplating base metal, they turned these coins into a literal gold mine. Tatum went from town to town going into shops, stores &amp; mercantiles. He was very careful not to purchase anything that cost more than a nickel, where he would hand over one of these gold plated nickels. The clerk would accept the coin, and in most instances give Josh back $4.95 in change, which he happily would take. By the time law enforcement caught up to him, he had visited hundreds of towns &amp; had amassed a small fortune!.</p><p><br /></p><p>The Law prosecuted him but ironically he was found not guilty on the most serious charges, because he only purchased items that totaled 5 cents, and because he was deaf &amp; could not speak he never represented that it was a new $5.00 gold piece. </p><p><br /></p><p>The same year, the US mint added the word &quot;cents&quot; to the Liberty Head Nickle in an effort to bring this type of fraud to a halt. </p><p><br /></p><p>Hence the famous saying &quot;your not Joshing me are you?&quot; </p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://https//answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100717194703AA1y6r0" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://https//answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100717194703AA1y6r0" rel="nofollow">credit where credit is due.</a>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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