First and foremost, happy 4th of July weekend everyone. This is a long-overdue blog post so there is a lot in here that has been on my mind for a while.
New Counterfeit U.S. Coin Varieties
Over the last few months several new varieties of die struck contemporary counterfeit U.S. coins, especially hand-made varieties, have been documented. For example, two new 3cS varieties (1 hand-made (shown here), 1 transfer die), at least 3 Capped Bust half dollar (CBH) varieties (2 hand-made, 1 transfer die), and some gold varieties from various denominations have all been documented. These pieces are now owned by a handful of dedicated collectors, including a couple pieces by yours truly.
Ask Your Local Coin Dealers
Coin dealers, especially local brick and mortar shops, handle a lot of coins in their careers. Many have stashes of counterfeit coins set aside for one reason or another that usually just collect dust. And these dealers sometimes don’t know what to do with these counterfeit coins because many assume they are illegal to handle, sell, trade, donate, etc. (an incorrect assumption).
One of the goals of this website and my Bad Metal publications are to see these pieces removed from the shadows of dealer boxes and put to greater educational use. Thus, I have a request for you Blog readers. The next time you are in your local shop, ask them if they have any contemporary counterfeit U.S. coins (or other types), and if they do have any ask them what their plans are for them. If they don’t want or need these pieces, tell them about my website, my book and documentation project, and see if they want to donate or sell pieces for my research and educational efforts. At the very least I’d love for these coin dealers to reach out to me so that we can start a conversation about these pieces, and hopefully they also buy a copy of my book - I'm motivated to get the last 200-300 copies I have sitting in boxes to productive homes.
Bad Metal Silver, Book Status Update and Printing Logistics
Myself and others are working as hard as we can to complete the review and edits to the next Bad Metal Silver, 3cS to 25c book. However, the recent documentation of several new varieties has resulted in needing to modify the format and layout to accommodate these new pieces.
Second, like seemingly everything else these days, prices of goods and commodities are up. This is no different for printing companies, such as the company I’m working with for the Bad Metal book series. Given the higher cost of both materials, printing and freight transportation, I’m considering delaying the print publication of Bad Metal Silver: 3cS to 25c for a little while. I may instead be looking at funding or print alternatives.
New Counterfeits For Sale Added to the Website
I recently added a handful more counterfeit U.S. coin varieties to this website, including 2 Shield nickels, a Seated dime, 2 CBHs, a Barber 50c, and a WLH. And I still have more I've been meaning to add here but I am super strapped for time to complete this and other updates I want to make to this website. Thus, if you are looking for any