Counterfeit United States Coins Made for Circulation

Coinage exclusive preview of an exciting new book

For decades, the numismatic community has been plagued by counterfeit U.S. coins of varying quality pouring into the marketplace, deceiving collectors and causing distress. However, there was also a time in the not too distant past when U.S. coins were counterfeited to be passed off and used in circulation as real money. These are known as ‘circulating contemporary counterfeit U.S. coins.’ I authored a new book which carefully documents these pieces and their respective histories: Bad Metal: Copper and Nickel Circulating Contemporary Counterfeit United States Coins Bad Metal is a profusely illustrated hard-cover book spanning nearly 300 pages. This is not your standard book on counterfeit coins. It is interactive. It reads as part novel, with dozens of short stories covering diverse topics, while also being part technical manual with meandering content to keep readers of all levels of numismatic experience continuously engaged for easy learning. My book is adorned by hundreds of large, high-quality, full-color images of counterfeit coins and associated paraphernalia to make visual identification as simple as possible.

Chapters include topics that cover modern techniques for effectively detecting contemporary counterfeit U.S. coins, differentiating between struck and cast counterfeits, counterfeit U.S. coin laws, and the history of U.S. coin counterfeiting dating back to 1793. The book concludes with chapters dedicated to the history of various copper and nickel denominations, from half-cents through five-cent nickels, including diligently documenting extant varieties, and in several cases illustrating the lives of the actual counterfeiters who made those counterfeit U.S. coin varieties.