COINS THAT AREN'T WHAT THEY APPEAR TO BE

Last week’s NNP E-Sylum article highlighted inquiries to the U.S. Mint that included pencil rubbings of Early United States coins. Three additional letters from the National Archives also contain pencil rubbings of numismatic items. Even though they are quite different from each other, they all fall under the category of Not What They First Appear To Be. The fact that their identities are a bit unusual likely prompted their owners to seek help from the Mint.

With only a quick look at the obverse, this coin might be mistaken for a three-cent piece. However, its slightly larger size and reverse design help to identify it as the 1869 pattern 5 cent piece (Judd-684). This coin was part of an effort to try to standardize the design of minor coinage in the late 1860’s. The Mint noted in the 1896 correspondence with its owner, J. Barnet of New York City, that this pattern was never issued [for circulation] and that the coin’s numismatic value was about 75 cents.

In 1894, Thad Burch, from Rich Hill, Missouri, consulted experts, an encyclopedia, and the U.S. Mint, in order to determine what kind of coin he owned. Even though all 3 sources pointed him toward the Jewish shekel, he was skeptical about this information. His instincts were correct, as the item is a false shekel, whose design is based on a shekel from the time period of the 66-70 AD Jewish revolt. This specific false shekel was produced about 1857.

According to newspaper reports from the 1860s and early 1870s, the basic design of this numismatic item is similar enough to a Liberty Head double eagle that there were attempts made to pass it off as a gold coin to unsuspecting merchants. It’s clear that this specific object was meant to deceive because the German phrase spiel marke, which indicates that it’s a gaming counter and not a gold coin, has been removed from the bottom of the obverse and reverse. The absence of this numismatic clue prevented Andrew B. Campbell of Vernon, Texas, from successfully identifying his item and prompted him to write to the Mint in 1888.

Link to letter with pencil rubbing of an 1869 pattern five cent piece:
https://archive.org/details/rubbingof1869patternfivecent18960212/mode/2up

Link to letter with pencil rubbing of a false shekel:
https://archive.org/details/identityrubbingjewishsheckel18940521/mode/2up

Link to letter with pencil rubbing of a gaming counter:
https://archive.org/details/designimitatingusdoubleeagle18881212/page/n1/mode/2up

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
COIN RUBBINGS IN MINT CORRESPONDENCE ON NNP (https://www.coinbooks.org/v24/esylum_v24n26a12.html)

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web