While growing up, I loved reading all the coin magazines and just imagining owning some of the amazing coins they would show. One of the coins that always fascinated me was the 1959 Wheat Cent. I love the story of this coin, but the more time that passes, the more I am beginning to think that this coin HAS to be a fake of some kind! For those of you that have forgotten about the coin (or ones that just hadn't ever known about)... Here some quick summary details: - 1959- 2009 SHOULD have Memorial Back. The Wheat reverse ran from 1909 - 1958. One coin (1959 D) with Wheat reverse is known to exist. - Purchased by Leon Baller in 1986 for $1,500. He placed an ad in his local newspaper saying he'd purchase 'odd' or 'unusual' coins. He was contacted by a local coin dealer who had the 1959D Wheatback. - Leon sent the coin to the Treasury Department in 1986 for examination. They said it was genuine after examination and returned the coin to him. - Leon submitted the coin to multiple Graders (including PCGS). No one would grade it where they could not determine if it was genuine. - Leon sells the coin to Heritage Rare Coin Galleries in 1987. Heritage then sold it to a private collector. - The Owners of the coin in 2002 (perhaps the same ones that bought it in 1987?) (a business syndicate) used a Southern California Collector named Larry Choate as their collective representative. - Choate submitted the coin AGAIN to the Treasury Department in 2002. Knowing the coin may be a counterfeit, or unofficial minted coin, this was a risky move where the Treasury Department has been known to seize such coins in the past (Reference the 1933 Gold Double Eagle). They AGAIN said it was genuine after a very deep and sophisticated examination. They were even able to line up die polish marks. They returned the coin to Choate. - The coin goes up for Auction in the September 2002 Goldberg's Auction. The coin, however, is suddenly pulled from the auction when a famed forger named Mark Hofmann (in prison at the time for murdering people he owed money to with bombs) claims he made the coin using the Spark Erosion Process. It is notable that Hofmann is also suspected of making 1943 Copper Cents, and other such famed coins. The Secret Service investigates, and finds Hofmann's claims to be unfounded and unsubstantiated. - In February of 2003, the coin was re-offered in the Goldberg's Auction. It was sold to a collector for $48,300. - In 2010, the coin appears once more at a Goldberg's Auction. It is sold for $31,050. So, here we are in 2014.... 55 years after this coins was 'minted', and no other coins have surfaced. It makes one really wonder if this coin isn't in fact a fake? Even the fabled 1964 Peace Dollar is rumored to have 4 + coins in existence. What do you guys think? Is it a Hofmann forgery? From what I've read about him, he was darn good at what he did. He figured that if his work was very good, no one would ever pick up on his forgeries. Some of his documents that he forged STILL fool the professionals, and it's unknown just how many old scholar documents in collections today are actually his reproductions! Your input?
Well, in Hofmann's own words: "If I can produce something so correctly, so perfect that the expert declare it to be genuine, then for all practical purposes it is genuine."
Dang... I heard of this coin a while ago, but until now I've never heard this story, nice information. Even if it was fake I'd still buy it. Why? Because if it's that dang good of a counterfeit, so good as to fool the Treasury twice, than it's a masterpiece. Definitely worth 48K.
I would probably say that the fake story has more value than the mint story. If you can prove it is the coin purchased by Leon, it now has history and worth something; better yet if it was a fake that was certified genuine by the mint.
I met Fred Weinberg at the recent PNG coin show in NYC. I happened to ask Fred about this very coin and he told me he had seen it and that in his opinion it is a fake. But it is still an interesting Cent. Even though it's fake I find myself still searching for another one for my own!
He just quickly told me that in his opinion it was not real. That he also heard about the Mark Hoffman story as you have mentioned. But I don't know. I respect Fred Weinberg but I still feel that maybe it's real. Not an error but maybe done deliberately as a gag by a mint employee back in 1959! So someone had a hand in making this on purpose!
I just can't believe that it's real because I don't see how the mint would run off one only coin like this. My best explanation would be that someone made a damn good die and ran this off on it. Nevertheless I'd love to have one.
