In 1883, the United States mint released a new 5 cent coin design.  There was one problem with it—it came without the word CENT anywhere on the coin.

The 5-cent coin quickly became known as the “Racketeer Nickel” because there was a group of people that would gold plate the coins and pass them off as $5 gold coins.

One of the more famous of people to be accused of gold plating the coins is a man by the name of Josh Tatum.  Josh would walk into a store and purchase an item for 5 cents.  He would then pay for it with the gold-plated fake.  Sometimes he would get $4.95 in change, and sometimes he wouldn’t if the clerk knew the actual denomination of the coin really was.

He then would leave with his purchase.  The striking thing about the entire thing was the fact that Josh would not say a single word throughout the entire transaction.

Why is this?  It is believed that Josh was a deaf mute.

The law finally caught up to Josh and promptly arrested and tried him for fraud.  The charges could not stick because of the fact that he did not say a word when the purchase was made, so it was up to the clerk to decide if the coin was worth 5 cents or 5 dollars.

The phrase “Just Joshing you” to this story.

What amazing bits of history like this have you heard?