1883 Racketeer Nickel Collection - 2 piece with Gold Plated

With April first being today, we decided that we would bring back a fan favorite that at one point had fooled nearly the entire country!

These coins, much like the infamous 2009 ‘Godless dollars’, caused quite a stir when the public realized what had happened...and that was in the days before social media! This ‘April Fools’ coin was truly the Mints greatest mistake...and it just so happened to also be their first! These 134 year old coins have one of the most unique and interesting stories U.S. Mint history and are instantly the Showpiece of any collection!

We are proud to announce the return of the 1883 Racketeer Nickel 2 pc. Collection!

The United States Mint created a new nickel design in 1883 that entailed a large Roman numeral V to denominate 5 Cents on the reverse of the coin. There was one problem with this new design… they completely forgot to put “cents” on the coin! As a result, a portion of Americans saw this as an opportunity to get rich quick—at the expense of their local storeowners. With a simple layer of gold, the 1883 "No Cents" Nickel suddenly became America's "new" $5 gold coin, and resulted in incorrect change being given to the swindlers. The Mint immediately placed “cents” on all further mintages of the coin, and attempted to locate and destroy as many “no cents” nickels as possible.

The original 1883 "No Cents" Nickel was made for only a few weeks and is one of the shortest-lived designs in U.S. Minting history.

To Coin a Phrase (and avoid jail)..."I Was Just Joshing You"

Naturally, the U.S. Government tried to prosecute the "racketeers" who used gold-plated 1883 "No Cents" Nickels as $5 gold coins. The most famous case involved Josh Tatum, a deaf mute who gold-plated over 1,000 Nickels. His lawyers argued that since he never "told" anyone they were $5 coins, and that the unsuspecting shopkeepers came to that conclusion on their own, Josh was able to completely evade prosecution. Mr. Josh Tatum had a reputation as a joker, and the phrase "to josh" someone by misleading them was entered the English language as a result of this historic case!

Each 2pc. set will arrive with one 1883 No Cent Nickel in Uncirculated condition, and one circulated example of the 1883 No Cent Nickel that has been gold-plated to look just like the 'Josh Tatum $5 gold coin' he used to dupe so many shopkeepers!