The Strange Story of the Henning Counterfeit Nickels

Why would you make counterfeit nickels?

This story may seem strange to you. You might not even believe it, but it is true. Counterfeit nickels were made in 1954 and the man who made them was quickly caught and sent to jail.

It’s actually not quite as strange as it sounds. A kid with a nickel in the fifties had fifty cents or more in terms of today’s purchasing power. I can tell you that from personal experience as I was a kid back then. Penny candy wasn’t just a name for inexpensive candy: the corner store had a whole display of candy where I could load up my pockets for a nickel.

Gasoline hadn’t yet reached 25 cents a gallon when these counterfeits were made. Bread was 15 cents a loaf. My father had bought a large three story, ten room house with a barn and a large plot of land near the center of town for $12,000 and the 1954 Studebaker in the driveway cost around $2,400. A nickel wasn’t insignificant.

The Counterfeiter

Francis Leroy Henning of Erial, NJ was previously arrested in 1939 for counterfeiting dollar bills. I don’t know what punishment he earned for that, but by 1953 he was producing or at least preparing to produce fake half dollars, quarters and dimes as well as $5.00 bills. We know that because evidence of their manufacture was found when agents arrested him for the nickels. He apparently had never released any of those other counterfeits, probably because silver coins are…