Neil in West Jersey
New member
One of my goals for 2008 was to find a rumored "treasure" of more than 100,000 counterfeit nickels dumped in the river in 1954 near my home. The case is a famous one. The coins, known in the numismatic world as "Henning Nickels" sometimes surface on ebay for $30-$40. Of course I do not expect them to be resellable in the condition I expect them to be in and they will be turned in to the feds (after I photograph and catalogue them).
I have been doing a lot of research and finally found 2 newspaper articles pertaining to the event. My question is, now that I have located the approximate site, what would be the best way to proceed? The area is a fairly large one. Keep in mind that in 1955 there were very few metal detector hobbyists, if any at all.
Here are the reprints of the articles:
Nickels and Die Now Recovered
Fish for nickels and die was the fatalistic slogan of a group of U.S. government agents which has kept them at work dragging the bottom of ****** river in ***** near the ****St. bridge for more than a week.
Francis L. Henning, 62, now a resident of **** County jail, lacking the necessary $5,000 bail, told the Secret Service men when arrested, that he had thrown counterfeiting dies and a quantity of the bogus nickels into ***** river at that place.
This week the search was rewarded with the finding of dies and shovelfuls of nickels in the river bottom silt. The operation has attracted crowds of watchers and resulted in traffic jams.
Henning, a mechanical engineer was wanted in Cleveland, where apparatus for making $5 bills was found in his home. He is reported to have a police record in Buffalo, NY.
The bogus nickels were discovered by members of ***** County Coin Club, a collector
I have been doing a lot of research and finally found 2 newspaper articles pertaining to the event. My question is, now that I have located the approximate site, what would be the best way to proceed? The area is a fairly large one. Keep in mind that in 1955 there were very few metal detector hobbyists, if any at all.
Here are the reprints of the articles:
Nickels and Die Now Recovered
Fish for nickels and die was the fatalistic slogan of a group of U.S. government agents which has kept them at work dragging the bottom of ****** river in ***** near the ****St. bridge for more than a week.
Francis L. Henning, 62, now a resident of **** County jail, lacking the necessary $5,000 bail, told the Secret Service men when arrested, that he had thrown counterfeiting dies and a quantity of the bogus nickels into ***** river at that place.
This week the search was rewarded with the finding of dies and shovelfuls of nickels in the river bottom silt. The operation has attracted crowds of watchers and resulted in traffic jams.
Henning, a mechanical engineer was wanted in Cleveland, where apparatus for making $5 bills was found in his home. He is reported to have a police record in Buffalo, NY.
The bogus nickels were discovered by members of ***** County Coin Club, a collector