I am sure most of you already know the story of the 1883 V nickel, but for those of you that don't I am sure you would get a laugh to hear the little story about a coinage blunder.... Josh Tatum, a deaf individual, saw an opportunity and grasped it. In 1883, the U.S. Mint issued a new nickel, referred to as the Liberty nickel. Josh noticed that there was no denomination on the back; that is, it did not say "Five Cents" or "Nickel". It did have a "V", the roman numeral for "5", that the U.S. Mint felt was adequate. As it turned out, it was far from adequate. Josh not only noticed the lack of denomination, but also that the new coin was the size and shape of the circulating $5.00 gold coin, and had a similar "Liberty" on the front. So, Josh, being the enterprising man that he was, gold plated the nickels and now, they looked very much more like the $5.00 gold piece. He would take a gold-plated nickel into a store, make a purchase of, for example, a five cent cigar, and lay the newly plated nickel on the counter. The clerk would promptly give him change for a $5.00 coin. All good things must come to an end, and eventually Josh was arrested. At his trial, it was learned that he never told the clerk to give him change ... his defense attorney knew this to be true because Josh was unable to speak! Because he didn’t demand change, or misrepresent the value of his coin, no crime had been committed. It was ruled that the clerks simply erred by giving him money. So that is the history of what has become known as the "racketeer nickel". Soon after, the U.S. Mint changed the design and placed the words "Five Cents" on the reverse. And to this day, the Mint has never again failed to put a denomination on a U.S. coin.
As with many stories like this - this one is a mix of truth and fiction. The more a story is told - the more it tends to become embellished. And after it has been repeated enough times it gets to the point that the story is accepted as being true. But the fact of the matter is - there was never was a trial and no one was ever convicted or aquitted for producing the racketeer nickel. Even so - this story has become one of numismatics' most endearing and enduring stories
Very true. I figured I would post the story that has been published in many different areas online. The story is still great... Every time I hear it.... I begin to think I would of been the one gold plating them and spending them at the local "penny-store".
I have what I think is a racketeer nickel, but it is not similar to the most common ones. The normal "Racketeer nickel" would have gold plating (or traces of it left), and a reeded edge. Mine has the slightest hint of golden color in places, so I think it was plated at some time, and it does not have a reeded edge. However, someone VERY carefully ground/polished off the "V" from the back and stamped a "5" into the same area. I can only surmise that this was done to pass it as a $5 gold coin. It does not match an existing coin of course, but it varied from the new nickel by means of the 5.
