I began collecting coins when I was eight years old. Like many young collectors in the 1940s I often cleaned dark and well-worn Lincoln Head Cents with an eraser before pressing them into a blue cardboard Whitman album.
Years later, a good friend, fellow collector and former New Jersey State Senator C. Louis Bassano shared a good laugh when he confessed he had done the same thing. A few years ago, Lou’s Mercury Dime collection, nearly all MS-65 and up, netted more than $750,000 in a Heritage auction. (Trust me, no eraser ever even got close to those gems!)
However, as a youngster, the 1909S VDB and 1914D Lincoln heads, and a few of the other scarcer dates, remained elusive. I recall carefully using a razor blade to cut out a printed images of both coins from an old Yeoman’s Blue Book and gluing them on other cents just so I could fill the holes in my album.
Today’s collectors, of any age, don’t have to do that. They can buy faithful repro or copy coins of rare issues to fit into their albums. The art and business of making replica coins exploded big time on the numismatic scene about a decade ago and has not only sustained that growth, but continues to attract new aficionados.
Consider this: a casual sampling on June 22, 2007, of repro and reproduction coins being offered on eBay turned up 34 offerings for replica coins. Besides the expected numerous rare U.S. issues such as the 1909s VDB Cent and 1916 Standing Liberty Quarter, among others, there were also Caribbean/Spanish doubloons; coins mentioned in the Bible; Greek; Roman; Chinese; Confederate; trade dollars; movie ‘prop’ coins from “Goonies” and “Pirates of The Caribbean (the “Goonies” coins were modeled on the shield-style two reale doubloon coin, a type minted from 1572 to 1734).
This branch on the numismatic tree has been scorned by some while embraced by larger numbers, to wit: there are at least a half dozen manufacturers of such wannabe coins. Besides that, there are replica coin newsletters, and dedicated repro coin collectors on the Internet. One such is the 50-member ‘CoinRepros’ at Yahoogroups.com. Their explanatory description on the home page states:
A group for people collecting coin reproductions or replicas, such as those produced by the Gallery Mint Museum or Royal Oak Mint, or the large “coaster” sized reproductions offered by a number of manufacturers. Other possible topics may include silver rounds that reproduce coinage designs, coins of other nations (such as Liberia) that mimic legal tender, etc. Discussion is NOT limited to US coins & reproductions, either.”
But what is the attraction? Why do replica coins hold such a fascination for some people?
Bill O’Hara, an attorney in Brainerd, MN, put it this way: “Basically I like seeing what the original coins looked like. And to fill holes in my albums. I will never be able to afford. I primarily deal with Gallery Mint now Stryker and Royal Oak Mint. I have never found any repros to match their quality and both outfits are a pleasure to deal with. I also have been getting some Canadian repros lately.”
Ken Potter, a dealer from Lathrup Village, MI , said he likes Royal Oak Mint and Gallery Mint repros, plus “some distributed by Publishers Clearinghourse years ago for foreign gold.” He echoed others in saying his attraction to certain issues are those which are most faithful in design and made to fit albums. Just as important are repros made with the correct finish in the correct metals.
Potter said he does not like the many of the recent Chinese imports “that have a range of attractive to downright unattractive designs that are most often far from being faithful in design and are often of the wrong size and made in cheaper materials such as silver-clad. These almost always have phony proof finishes that make them stick out like a sore thumb even when you can fit them in an album.”
Most of those we spoke with agreed that a BU coin should be BU and a proof should be a proof. There was also a consensus among collectors that real coins which were never struck in proof should not now be available in proof as repro coins. “I have nothing against proofs but I sure would not want a proof 1909-S VDB cent in my collection!” Potter concluded.
Edwin Johnston commented on Ken Potter’s remarks: “The former Gallery Mint Museum had several great features going for it. Repros are created on the same types of machines and technology as the originals, whether 18th century American or old Greek, and they employ amazingly talented sculptor/engraver. Striker Token and Medal has picked the ball back up from GMM and is doing great stuff too!
Cliff Bolling, told this writer he began collecting Gallery Mint repros in 1996. “I stuck one of the 1796 dollars in my pocket. It is still there with substantial wear and looks more authentic every year. One of my favorite things to do at coin shows is to walk up to a table with a bunch of well worn early dollars and pull out my GMM pocket piece and nonchalantly hand it to the dealer behind the table and say, “What do you think of this?” 9 times out of 10 the guy will give me the “What a Rube!” look and inspect the piece very carefully, then say, “It’s been polished. Doesn’t have much value. Where’d you get it?” Then I tell them it’s a replica and they ALWAYS say, “I knew that!” I find that humorous. The piece looks polished because it’s been in my pocket for a long time. Authentic early dollars you see are dark, gray, black, whatever. But I think my coin is probably what they looked like when Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and those guys had them in their pockets. Neat!”
Bolling says he was “dazzled” by Ron Landis’ Chain Cent, then the Wreath Cent. When he discovered there were die varieties among them, the collector has been hooked ever since. He collected real Draped Bust half cents for about 20 years and enjoyed the hunt for rare die varieties, but, he admits, they became so expensive, he found it problematic to afford them.
“When the Gallery mint pieces came out with the same type of varieties (that the originals had), I was pretty happy as these were really neat and something I could afford. Then I discovered a book begun by Michael Czapla describing Gallery Mint coin repro die varieties. Unfortunately, he passed away several years ago and the book was never finished. I’ve been looking through my own collection and found 7 different obverse dies and 6 reverse dies just for the business strike 1796 dollars! There are at least 2 different obverse dies for their business strike 1793 Wreath Cents, one of them is pretty hard to find. There are at least 2 different obverse dies for their 1796 Half Cent without pole, the ones with the die crack, and the dies cracks on the 2 varieties are very obviously different!”
Bolling is still enthusiastic about the Landis repros. Ebay is a pretty good source for some of the die varieties I’ve found to be really hard to come by since there doesn’t seem to be many people out there collecting by die variety.
Gary Dyner of the Great American Coin Company in Beverly Hills, CA, started selling replica coins almost by accident about 5 years ago. “I started off by collecting real coins; I was reselling coins from large coin lots I was buying at auctions. One of the large lots I purchased contained some replica coins. I had no idea what to do with them. I ended up putting them up for sale on eBay, and was shocked with how well they sold.”
His company currently sells 65 dates, of which 45 are U.S. and the rest a mixture of Australian, English, Canadian and Russian repro coins and they are in the process of doubling the inventory of offerings.
“The majority of new coins will be U.S. Currently the best selling replicas we maintain in stock,” Dyner said, “are the 1933 $20 St. Gaudens, the 1849 $20 Liberty, and 1909-S VDB Lincoln Cent. However, we are in the process of adding additional Canadian, Australian, UK, and German coins as well.”
Dyner noted that when they began their business there were not a lot of replica coins available. “Great American received a fair number of irate people, mostly on eBay, who said we were the epitome of pure evil defiling the purity of the coin world, or things to that effect.” Now that the manufacture of replica coins has become more of an accepted practice, he says they get maybe one every other month. “I have yet to get one hate e-mail in 2007, ” he said.
“About once a month someone will ask us to manufacture coins without the word copy, mostly the 1909-S VDB, from someone ‘desperate’ for 500 1909-S VDBs. We send our apologies with a link to the US Hobby Protection Act. We aren’t hot to spend time in jail. Last week we got an e-mail from Russia asking for 3,000 Krugerrands without the word ‘COPY’. – That was good for a laugh.”
There have been instances where some eBay sellers offered repros that were altered by scrubbing down the COPY stamp and creating substantial wear to attempt to sell them as genuine US coins.
A few people we spoke to preferred not to have their names used, for instance: ‘Ultra Joe’ told Coin Values. “I’m generally in favor of reproductions, simply because they allow people who can’t even afford auction catalogs a chance to own a 3D model of history. Some people say it’s just like having a photograph. I don’t agree. A good reproduction is almost like owning the real thing; the biggest difference would be the resale value.
Too often I get frustrated that coin collecting focuses less on the enjoyment and more on the “collectible value.” I don’t collect for investment purposes. I don’t care if my collection of proof & uncirculated US sets drop in value from what I originally paid for them. I own a piece of history that I can take out and enjoy admiring time and time again. I can show them to kids who may not be familiar with the Kennedy half dollar, or even the Peace dollar. That’s what makes coin collecting fun for me. In that light, collecting reproductions is a logical next step.”
Perhaps Verne R. Walrafen Ozawkie, KS summed it up best: You don’t have to be crazy to pursue such esoteric material for a collection… but it sure helps!!!
Reference:
- 2007 © by Timothy B. Benford. This article was researched and written on assignment for the November, 2007 issue of Coin Values magazine.
