WEEK #326 8-8-08 Olympics Start Today

[LISA B]

Question:

 

Why did designer Charles Barber fail to anticipate the problem associated with omitting the word CENTS from his Liberty Head Nickel when he designed it in 1881?

 

Our first place winner will receive David W. Langes "A Guide Book of Modern United States Proof Coin Sets” signed by David W. Lange. There will also be a runner up prize given to a randomly selected player with the correct answer.

 

REMINDER: The Numisma-Quest ends on Saturday at midnight EST. Entries after that time will not be valid. See the Trivia info post for more details.

 

When you post your answer, only the administrators can see it. Stop back this Monday. We will make all the posts visible and announce the winners.

 

[MunkyMan95]

"If I only had a brain... "

[BankNote1]

Didn't notice that the word "cents" was omitted from the coin?

[Backdraft237]

Officials at the Mint failed to place the word CENTS on the coin, and it wasn't long before enterprising scammers began plating the nickels in gold and passing them off as $5 gold pieces! This was possible because the Liberty Head Nickel was a brand new type, and people weren't familiar with it yet, plus it was about the same diameter as the $5 gold piece. Without the word CENTS on the coin, all the scammer had to do was buy a small item priced below 5 cents, pay with a gold-plated nickel, and wait to see whether he got change for 5 cents or $5

[Backdraft237]

he didnt realize that it was the same diameter as the $5 gold piece.

[CarolinaCollector]

A guess...

 

The three cent nickel piece has the roman numeral III and no wording of cents. No issues arose with the missing CENTS.

 

The five cent coin followed the same design approach.

[Backdraft237]

there wasn't yet a federal law establishing a minimum life expectancy for U.S. coin designs.

 

[Backdraft237]

Because the nickel was still new, the general public was not aware of the new nickel and since the "V" was the only symbol of

value, it could mean 5 cents or 5 dollars.

[just-john]

Snowden was unable to implement his desired design alterations for the cent and three-cent nickel, so only the five-cent nickel design ever saw full production.

n early 1883, the Liberty Head nickel was first struck for circulation.

The first 5.4 million pieces struck contained the Roman numeral V on the reverse, but did not contain the word “CENTS”. Con artists quickly noted this, as well as the fact that the coin was roughly the same size as a five-dollar gold coin, and began gold-plating the new nickels and attempting to pass them as gold pieces.

 

According to numismatic legend, one of the perpetrators of this fraud was a deaf-mute named Josh Tatum, whose name is allegedly the origin of the verb “joshing”

[bsshog40]

He didn't snap to it being the same size as the $5 gold coin?

[dan8402]

In early 1883, the Liberty Head nickel was first struck for circulation. The first 5.4 million pieces struck contained the Roman numeral V on the reverse, but did not contain the word “CENTS”. Con artists quickly noted this, as well as the fact that the coin was roughly the same size as a five-dollar gold coin, and began gold-plating the new nickels and attempting to pass them as gold pieces.

[DC Dawg]

Because the 3-cent coins being circulated did not have the word "cents" and he didn't think it was necessary on the new nickel.

 

Scott

[mhardin2413]

i am not sure what this has to do with the olympics, but what the hay.

 

barber was given the HERCULEAN task by Snowden of creating the base MEDAL (ha ha--metal) coins--the 1, 3, and 5 centers, and they were supposed to match. i guess even back then, aesthetics was part of the score. anyway, barber designed them with that in mind, creating a minimal reverse with the roman numerals (too bad he didn't use greek numerals--that would have really screwed up the folks back then). anyway, that's about all that i could figure out.

 

HOWEVER, what i think really was the case is one or both of the following:

barber did not realize we americans are as dumb as we are, and can't tell 5c from $5 (now, a SBA dollar from a quarter, that's only a 75c mistake).

OR, he did not realize that we'd cheat our own mothers to make $4.95.

 

 

[Rooster-migration]

because the con men plated them gold and passed them off as 5$ gold pieces

[rons]

Chuckie was in cahoots with the gangsters and received a kickback for each of the nickels that they plated

[rons]

As I am sure has been stated many times already in this thread Barber did not anticipate the nickels getting gold plated and being passed off as $5 gold pieces.

[stinkycheese1]

Wow, this is a tough one.

 

I'll have to say because the nickel was still new, the general public was not aware of the new nickel and since the "V" was the only symbol of value, it could mean 5 cents or 5 dollars.

[LISA B]

Question:

 

Why did designer Charles Barber fail to anticipate the problem associated with omitting the word CENTS from his Liberty Head Nickel when he designed it in 1881?

 

Answer: This design was originally planned with matching one-cent and three-cent pieces marked I and III on their reverses, respectively. The other two coins were cancelled before production began.

 

Our first place winner just-john will receive David W. Langes "A Guide Book of Modern United States Proof Coin Sets” signed by David W. Lange. Our runner up prize will be given to mhardin.

 

 

Thanks for playing this weeks Numisma-Quest. Don’t forget to stop by for this weeks PMG question.