1959-D mule fake

[GarryN]

Did you guys see the letter written by Tom DeLorey in the Sept 20 Coin World in Letters to the Editor? Tom is a mild mannered employee of Harlan J Berk in Chicago. Stands behind the counter and sells coins. He is also a past grader for ANACS, considered an expert on copper and also handled the Collectors Clearinghouse column for Coin World at some point. He probably has many other numismatic credentials I am not aware of. Between his stint at Coin World and Harlan J. Berk, he worked behind the counter at Glenview Coin and Collectibles. John Kozicki, the owner, told me that when Tom was there he would search the entire inventory for die varieties and would manage to get a few dollars or more for many of the coins.

http://www.glenviewcoin.com/index.html

Anyway the letter details his experience as having been the only person to examine both known examples of the fake 1959-D wheat cents. He acknowledged, and this is amazing to me, that the first coin had been certified in error by ANACS at their office in Washington D.C. "I was told the coin had been certified without anybody realizing that the date was wrong for the design, the coin having been treated as just another common coin as was sometimes submitted for certification."

The original fake was allegedly created by Mark Hoffman, identified in a previous article as a murderer and a counterfeiter. Tom said he recommended that someone should examine the ANA submission logbooks for the period that the coin appeared at ANACS to determine if Mark Hoffman actually submitted the coin and any others or if any other coins were submitted under the same name that submitted the 1959-D cent. He said he has arranged for a former ANACS employee familiar with the logbooks to examine the books at Tom's own expense "because I consider the question of the submitter's name important enough to deserve answering."

Tom is quite a guy. I have bought a few coins from him. He also offered me $500 in trade for my 1909 S VDB cent for a $1,500 MS65RB 1909 S VDB. I had to turn it down. Didnt have the money. I kick myself over that one once in a while.