Snatched 2x Racketeer Nickels

Discussion in 'US Coins Forum' started by alhenry92, Jan 15, 2025.

  1. alhenry92

    alhenry92 32 Year Old Liberty Nickel Enthusiast

    Well, you learn new things every day. I was talking to my dad last night about some of the recent purchases of Liberty Nickels I made (attaching pictures of those as well, all of these are seller pics. Bought 3x of the 1907s for $7 and the 1883 for $30) when he told me about the Racketeer Nickels and how they more or less started the whole "biting into the gold coin" practice. Read more into the story of Josh Tatum and thought it was interesting, though from what I've also read is almost unverifiable and more or less a legend, along with the notion that Josh Tatum's story is what coined the phrase "just joshin' with you".

    I'll add my own pictures of the individuals when they arrive, but I'm pretty stoked.


    Screenshot_121.jpg Screenshot_122.jpg Screenshot_123.jpg Screenshot_124.jpg Screenshot_125.jpg Screenshot_126.jpg Screenshot_127.jpg Screenshot_128.jpg
     
    Last edited: Jan 15, 2025
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  3. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan 48-year collector Moderator

    Yeah, the old Josh Tatum story is fun, even if it's just legend.

    And I would bet you a racketeer nickel that the practice of biting gold coins to test them goes back way, way further in time than 1883.
     
    Tall Paul, dwhiz, johnmilton and 2 others like this.
  4. alhenry92

    alhenry92 32 Year Old Liberty Nickel Enthusiast

    I'd take the same bet, I don't always take everything I've been told at face value, even if it's from my dad who's collected coins for years. Just makes looking into the history of it that much more fun to me
     
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  5. johnmilton

    johnmilton Well-Known Member

    Here's what is probably a real "racketeer nickel." It's easy to gold plate a liberty yesterday, and call it one. What you need is a gold plated piece with a reeded edge added. It really helps if the reeding is well done. The "real thing" should be an 1883 No Cents type nickel.

    1883 Rac Nic Edge.jpg

    1883 Rack Nic All.jpg
     
    Tall Paul, capthank, -jeffB and 2 others like this.
  6. alhenry92

    alhenry92 32 Year Old Liberty Nickel Enthusiast

    Yeah, I read about a lot of fakes out there as well, and the real ones have the reeded edge with some of the gilt rubbed off (and of course, the "No Cents" motto). I don't see why ICG would classify it as genuine if it would be fake but it does bring me peace of mind to know exactly what I'd be looking for through an actual example. Hoping to see exactly what I'm looking for in both pieces, I'll definitely upload pics of both (Using an iPhone at the moment) when they get here.
    Appreciate it John!
     
  7. Inspector43

    Inspector43 More than 75 Years Active Collecting Supporter

    In 1948 I was 5 years old. My Aunt gave me an 1883 W/O Cents nickel. That day I started my coin collection.
    The History Channel had a documentary about Jessie James. They showed him using the phrase "Just Joshing" in one scene. I wrote and corrected them. Jessie died in 1882 sometime before the phrase was coined.
    This is the coin my Aunt gave me 76 years ago.
    1883 Liberty WO Cents.jpg
     
  8. alhenry92

    alhenry92 32 Year Old Liberty Nickel Enthusiast

    Beautiful coin!! Not too far off topic (more in relevance to both of our childhoods) my dad and I restored this 1948 Willys CJ2A. Of course this was before I started collecting as I was about 12-13 years old but I’ll never not share it, I miss that damn thing
     

    Attached Files:

  9. SensibleSal66

    SensibleSal66 U.S Casual Collector / Error Collector

    Nice Jeep! Wait!! What does this have to do with "racketeering". I'm Italian and I don't know what it means. ?? o_O
    :smuggrin::hilarious:
     
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  10. alhenry92

    alhenry92 32 Year Old Liberty Nickel Enthusiast

    Thanks! I miss that Jeep a lot, had to sell it at a point in time because we lost storage for it.

    But back to the subject at hand; in short: racketeering is fraud. Which, according to the legend of Josh Tatum (allegedly a deaf mute) was the use of the golden plated 1883 Liberty Nickel as he was passing them off as $5 gold coins after becoming friends with a guy who was good at electroplating. When he’d go to get 5 cent cigars, he’d get $4.95 back in change every time he’d done so and at some point that caught up with him even though he had no idea what was going on.
    The story goes that once he was caught and being brought up for the charges of racketeering using illegal/counterfeit currency, no one would, or even could say anything about it because he couldn’t hear or talk, and so he was exonerated of all charges. The story has never been confirmed to be real or true, but it’s what inspired the name of the “Racketeering Nickel.” It was also suggested that his name inspired the use of the phrase “Just Joshin” when you were kidding around/messing with someone
     
    Last edited: Jan 15, 2025
  11. SensibleSal66

    SensibleSal66 U.S Casual Collector / Error Collector

    Nice Story amico! I used to metal detect often in a jeep that was a friends. That thing could go anywhere. We went through about what seemed like 4 feet ofwater once during a storm.
    Back to the coin. I would of just purchased a whole box of cigars for that price!! LOL. lol.gif
     
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  12. alhenry92

    alhenry92 32 Year Old Liberty Nickel Enthusiast

    With the way that I used to smoke cigars, I would've done the same thing [​IMG]
     
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  13. SensibleSal66

    SensibleSal66 U.S Casual Collector / Error Collector

    Yea and the way things were at home would make anyone smoke... and drink. lol.gif
    Oops! Sorry people. :sorry:
     
    alhenry92 likes this.
  14. Inspector43

    Inspector43 More than 75 Years Active Collecting Supporter

    Back when a Jeep was a Jeep.
     
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