One Man’s Fake

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Numismatics is full of terms that can sound like gibberish to the uninitiated. Words like planchet, cud, and denticles may leave the average person scratching their head—but even seasoned collectors occasionally encounter terminology or concepts they’ve never heard of before. One such phrase, often whispered at coin shops and shows across the country, is “black cabinet.”

It sounds ominous, and intentionally so. A black cabinet refers to a collection of counterfeit and altered coins kept by a collector or dealer, often for reference or educational purposes. My own shop in downtown Chicago—open for over 61 years—is no exception. Over the decades, we’ve taken in countless fakes and altered coins: everything from ancient Roman denarii to Carson City Morgan dollars, and even the occasional Susan B. Anthony dollar. One of my ongoing passion projects has been sorting through these pieces, studying their creation, and building an educational set to help collectors identify counterfeits. Our black cabinet spans a wide spectrum of quality, from crudely cast fakes to expertly struck die forgeries.

An Interesting Find

Recently, I came across a curious piece inside an old Numismatic Guaranty Company (NGC) “body bag”—a term used when a coin is returned ungraded with a “DO NOT HOLDER—NOT GENUINE” label. The coin was a Bar cent, a colonial issue that was originally struck in the United Kingdom but circulated in early America alongside other regional and private copper tokens. Though I’m no colonial coin expert, I’ve handled enough Bar cents to recognize a key detail was off: on a genuine example, the “S” in “USA” passes under the “A.” On this coin, the “S” passes over. At first, I assumed it was a fake. But the quality gave me pause—it was too well-made to be a typical counterfeit. That’s when I began to consider a different possibility: was this a facsimile rather than a fake?

It may sound pedantic, but the distinction is important. A fake is created with the intent to deceive. A facsimile, on the other hand, is a faithful reproduction, often created as a study piece or for educational purposes. In the numismatic world, facsimiles are usually older pieces (not produced within the past 50 years) and often made with considerable skill and care. I turned to my numismatic library and quickly found what I was looking for. Sure enough, this wasn’t just any facsimile. It was the work of one of the most fascinating and underappreciated figures in 19th-century American numismatics: John Adams Bolen.

The Fascinating J.A. Bolen

Much of what follows comes from Neil E. Musante’s invaluable (and now out-of-print) book The Medallic Work of John Adams Bolen. A copy can set you back nearly $100 today, but it’s an essential reference for anyone serious about tokens and medals.

John Adams Bolen was born on November 10, 1826, in New York City to James and Mary Bolen. Details of his early life are scarce, but we know he trained in jewelry-making and likeness-carving at the firm of Peckham & Rumrill in the early 1840s. In 1851 he moved to Springfield, Massachusetts, following his mentor James Rumrill.

By 1856, Bolen had married Eliza Pease and started a family. Two years later, he advertised himself as a die-sinker. He also worked as an agent for the National Sewing Machine Company—proof he was a man of diverse talents. In 1861 Bolen received his first numismatic commission: a medal for the Pioneer Baseball Club, honoring a game that was still in its infancy. With the onset of the Civil War, Bolen’s mechanical skills found use at the U.S. Arsenal, where he worked as a toolmaker from 1862 to 1865. He even took the federal Oath of Allegiance, as required of government employees at the time. From 1865 to 1869, Bolen was at his numismatic peak, producing 23 medals from 36 dies.

In 1872 he briefly partnered with Eugene Manchester before returning to solo work. Though he struggled financially as a die-sinker, he took on various odd jobs, likely including engraving work for Smith & Wesson. He even launched a short-lived lamp parts business. By 1895, his last known advertisement as a die-sinker appeared, though Bolen remained active in the collecting community, especially with colonial paper money. He passed away on March 14, 1906, leaving behind a legacy of exceptional medallic art. If his work interests you, I can’t recommend Musante’s book enough.

But for now, let’s return to the piece that sparked this deep dive.

The Bar Cent Facsimile

The Bar cent facsimile was Bolen’s first direct reproduction of a U.S. coin. In his own 1905 catalog, Bolen noted that he had created only one facsimile from an actual coin. The rest were from electrotypes (a different type of reproduction and a topic for another article). Given the relative availability of Bar cents at the time, most experts—including Musante—believe this was the one Bolen copied directly.

Here enters another key figure: William Elliot Woodward, an early American coin dealer who sold rare coins and electrotypes via catalog. While the exact nature of their arrangement isn’t fully documented, it’s clear Woodward had an agreement with Bolen to produce facsimiles for sale.

The dies for the Bar cent facsimile were cut in early 1862 and sold to Woodward soon after. By June of that year, Woodward advertised 12 silver copies at $4 apiece—a hefty sum when the average Union soldier earned just $13 a month.

George H. Lovett, another fascinating character, carried out the striking of these pieces. Interestingly, Woodward claimed he bought the dies in order to suppress them, arguing they were too good to remain in circulation—though not before making some money off them.

In addition to the 12 silver copies, examples were also struck in nickel, brass, and tin. Bolen himself later told Charles Nichols of the American Journal of Numismatics that only 30 copper pieces were made. However, modern auction records suggest the number is closer to 50–60 extant examples today.

The Present Example

Once I realized the “fake” Bar cent in our black cabinet was actually a Bolen facsimile, we immediately submitted it to NGC for grading and authentication. It came back as JAB-2, the designation used in Musante’s reference, and it now resides in an NGC Mint State-61 Brown holder. At some point, we will offer it for sale.

In closing, if there’s one takeaway from this story, let it be this: whether you’re just getting started, a seasoned collector, or even someone who’s worked in the industry for decades, there is always something new to learn. More importantly, not every fake is a fraud, and not all that glitters is gold—sometimes it’s history in disguise.