Counterfeit Nickels

[Jelly_936]

Hunted for a couple of hours yesterday on a site I hadn’t been to before. The pre-hunt research showed that it was a homesite from at least the 1860s (census records) and was likely gone before the 1920s (no homesite on the ariel photographs).

Beautiful day for a hunt, sunny with a nice breeze. Homesite was in a recently picked cornfield so swinging wasn’t ideal but not the worst. Brick, pottery, glass, and stoneware were all visible along with the tell-tale iron patch.

Came up with a few firsts along with the normal homesite stuff. Couple of tokens, one having been shot. The best looking find of the day was an intact skeleton key with a gorgeous green patina. It was my first ever skeleton key and it will definitely be going on my top finds shelf. Old brass with that beautiful green patina is my favorite stuff to find.

Next came the coins. 1895 and 1905 Indians. Cool. Then came the first Shield nickel. I knew right away from the VID something about it was abnormal. Very next signal just a couple of feet away produced a similar “Shield” nickel. Next came an actual Shield nickel, with rays. A third suspicious “Shield” revealed itself not long after but one side was not finished well.

Turns out I had stumbled across three counterfeit Shield nickels and one real. The fakes are made from a pewter planchette, indicating that they were not recent fakes, probably done in the late 1800s.

Very interesting finds and interesting reading online about the counterfeit Shields. Returned hunts in the future will likely reveal more artifacts and subsequent information, as this site is far from hunted out.

Thanks for looking and any knowledge on the counterfeits would be appreciated!

 

[Jelly_936]

Hunted for a couple of hours yesterday on a site I hadn’t been to before. The pre-hunt research showed that it was a homesite from at least the 1860s (census records) and was likely gone before the 1920s (no homesite on the ariel photographs).

Beautiful day for a hunt, sunny with a nice breeze. Homesite was in a recently picked cornfield so swinging wasn’t ideal but not the worst. Brick, pottery, glass, and stoneware were all visible along with the tell-tale iron patch.

Came up with a few firsts along with the normal homesite stuff. Couple of tokens, one having been shot. The best looking find of the day was an intact skeleton key with a gorgeous green patina. It was my first ever skeleton key and it will definitely be going on my top finds shelf. Old brass with that beautiful green patina is my favorite stuff to find.

Next came the coins. 1895 and 1905 Indians. Cool. Then came the first Shield nickel. I knew right away from the VID something about it was abnormal. Very next signal just a couple of feet away produced a similar “Shield” nickel. Next came an actual Shield nickel, with rays. A third suspicious “Shield” revealed itself not long after but one side was not finished well.

Turns out I had stumbled across three counterfeit Shield nickels and one real. The fakes are made from a pewter planchette, indicating that they were not recent fakes, probably done in the late 1800s.

Very interesting finds and interesting reading online about the counterfeit Shields. Returned hunts in the future will likely reveal more artifacts and subsequent information, as this site is far from hunted out.

Thanks for looking and any knowledge on the counterfeits would be appreciated!

 

[Jelly_936]

Interesting read dated 1870 on the fake nickels.

 

[MSCguy]

Wow! What great finds! The counterfeit nickels are very interesting. They have such a story to tell. From a time when 5 cents was worth enough to take the time and effort to make fake ones!
The skeleton key is another great find. The brass ones with the green patina are special.

That is a great spot and should continue to yield cool things. Congratulations@!

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Great share ! Thanx ! I found an attempted counterfeit V nickel once. Someone attempting to mimic one with lead (probably a grade school kid attempt).

 

[LovestheShiny!]

Wow... those counterfeit nickels are really cool! Great other finds too, skeleton key, actual Shield Nickel, Indians, and more.

 

[Mr. Digger]

Can't say I've ever seen a counterfeit shield nickel posted before. Interesting!

 

[Jelly_936]

Thanks fellas!

I knew that counterfeit Shields existed because my friend that I detect with has found one on an unrelated site. It is made of pewter as well so they could very well be made or casted from the same source.

Just goes to show you can learn something new every time we go out swinging!

 

[bottlecap4u]

Fascinating. Fake Pennie’s in the 1700s yielded to fake nickels in the 1800s, makes aense.

 

[stetam]

Very interesting!

 

[Jodo_Kast501]

There's a group on Facebook called Circulating Contemporary Counterfeit Coins. Lots of very knowledgeable people over there. They might have more information and would be happy to see them even if they don't.

 

[Ramble]

Interesting finds! Those counterfeits are awesome!

 

[KOB]

Counterfeit coins for years past used to be regarded as junk. Sort of like lobster was for poor people and prisoners. Now , old CF coins are collectable and some can be worth much more than the real ones. $$$

 

[Jelly_936]

I have returned once to this site and hunted very briefly but didn’t come up with anything more on these. I will hunt this site a few more times this year and I bet it will produce another one or two of these. I’ll keep you posted!

 

[cellrdwellr]

I've heard of the Henning nickels, but this is a new one for me also. Cool finds!

 

[Kansashunter]

Very cool finds, Congrats

 

[Jelly_936]

Picked up another one of these Counterfeit Shield Nickels on a return hunt last night.

This one is in much tougher condition but it is the same material and design as the previous ones found.

Interestingly I found this one quite aways away from the location I found the others so that tells me there might be more scattered all over the site.

I am returning tonight to go over the site again. Thanks for looking!

 

[MasonDixonMding]

Very cool. You never know what you will find next. It truly is a great hobby.

 

[Jelly_936]

Another hunt at this site produced 8 more Counterfeit Nickels, silver thimble and some interesting pieces. A buddy found two of the nickels so they are not pictured. He also found part of a silver compact as well.

Another interesting piece is a completely intact and working whistle. The whistle is made of pewter and somehow did not get destroyed by the farm plows over the past 100+ years. I don’t have a lot of knowledge on these but quick research shows it could be anywhere from Roman to WWII so any info on these would be appreciated.

 

[Jelly_936]

Also found was a crunched up piece of brass that I found well after dark. I was using a headlamp and didn’t look the piece over that well in the field but did get a feeling that it might be more than meets the eye. I was right because after cleaning it at home discovered it to be an Alabama Volunteer Corps Confederste Civil War button. Any info on this would be appreciated as well.

You are looking at the inside of the button when seeing the dropped wing eagle. It was the only way to id this button. The A from the AVC can be seen as well.