2023 started off strong - and actually amazingly great if you collect/study contemporary counterfeit Capped Bust half dollars. We documented a new variety nearly every month for the first 4 or 5 months, and in July I talked about 2 new varieties being discovered and added to established families. By the end of the year, 7 new hand-made, die struck varieties were added to our body of knowledge. In addition, a handful of transfer die and casts were also documented (I don't have those quantities available right now).

I'm really hoping this year, 2024, has the same sort of excitement regarding counterfeit CBHs as 2023. I'm currently actively studying a handful of varieties from other collections, and hope to study more pieces from another collection this spring. This will hopefully fill important gaps in my research and our collective knowledge of this subject, especially so that my next Bad Metal book is as complete as I can reasonably get it to be. In addition, if you contributed to the counterfeit CBH collection census back in 2021, and if you have any updates for me, please share those updates via email; I've tried to maintain up-to-date information as much as possible when collector's have contacted me. If/when I have the time, I'm planning to find a way to publish a summary table of my collection on this website, similar to how Larry Schmidt did on cccbhcc.com; if you want to share your collection anonymously too, please contact me so I can work on that.

By the Spring, a previously unpublished hand-made, die struck Capped Bust quarter variety dated 1834 was reported. This variety was almost certainly made by the same counterfeiter as four Capped Bust dime counterfeit varieties.

The following month, in May but reported in June, a new hand-made die struck 3cS variety dated 1852 was sold on eBay. This new variety still remains as the only documented example.

Several auction companies sold many die struck and cast contemporary counterfeit U.S. coins, a handful of which were previously undocumented by me and my efforts - these were mostly transfer die pieces but it still counts in the overall compendium of the subject.

We documented a total of 38 new die struck contemporary counterfeits in 2023. A handful were undocumented from the first 2 Bad Metal books, while the majority of them were for forthcoming publications. A fair amount of counterfeit gold varieties were part of that 38 new variety count.

Bad Metal Silver: 50c and Silver Dollars is about 90% complete. Outstanding items are reviews/edits, writing a few more sections, getting images of varieties (some new varieties from at least 1 or 2 collections may also be added), updating existing images, and like I said above, updated/added research information where necessary. Based on my current organization of the book, it is anticipated to be just shy of 400 pages long. I'm hoping to complete the book by the end of 2024, with printing in early 2025. I don't want to necessarily rush this publication for the sake of getting it off my desk - I want it done right and as complete as is reasonable.

The next blog will be some important updates on counterfeit Seated quarters. I hope to write that blog before the end of January. Stay tuned...

Thanks for reading and feel free to comment, respond, or email me.

Cheers,

Winston