Rare Nickel Sells for More Than $4 Million to New Jersey Company

Tampa Bay on line ^ | June 2, 2005 | By David Tirrell-Wysocki, Associated Press Writer

[windcliff]

I better check the bottom of my bag. I'm sure I have one.

[blam]

"The really scary thing is that with the equipment I own at my shop I bet I could make one of those so well it could even fool an expert. I wonder if counterfeiting one nickle will get you as much time as a few million of $20's would."

There's a program you should watch, Breaking Vegas, on one of the cable channels. One segment covers a guy who made his own $25 and $100 slot coins. There's a lot more to their coins than one would imagine. He spent thousands of dollars on equipment even before he could get started.

[Abathar]

I have built molds for the medical industry that would have to be 20X times more critical and have closer tolerance than anything the eye could catch, especially mass produced items. We work all the time in 10's of millionths on our fussy stuff, thats getting down to pretty darn small. I always wondered how many people like me have sat down here on the weekends and built stuff like that. As powerful and accurate as the machine tools are getting I can't believe it isn't more common than we all know.

[blam]

"We work all the time in 10's of millionths on our fussy stuff, thats getting down to pretty darn small."

I'm a retired chip-maker. The last work I did (0.5 micron), required a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) to see. Of course, I don't do than in my garage. LOL

[bannie]

It's a piece of metal.

(scratches head...but wishes she had one of 'em.)

[Domangart]

Yes Yes but we know who is the current owner of each rare coin and most old bill serial numbers.