07/31/2026
Heard the story of the Racketeer Nickel? 🪙
When the U.S. Mint released the Liberty Head "V" nickel in early 1883, the reverse featured a large Roman numeral "V" for five, but forgot to write the word "CENTS"
Because the nickel's size closely matched the $5 gold half eagle, fraudsters gold-plated the coins and used them - mostly to buy cheap items (like a 5-cent cigar) to collect $4.95 in genuine gold and silver change.
But if you made a few of these racketeer nickels back then you could, deceitfully, buy yourself a horse 🐎