The E-Sylum:  Volume 7, Number 20, May 16, 2004, Article 4

HOFMANN'S FORGERY SECRETS REVEALED IN BOOK

On May 11, 2004, a reporter for KSL-TV in Utah reported
that "...An Orem man is about to publish a book revealing the
secrets of one of the dark arts: coin forgery. And he says he
learned much of what he knows as a prison guard, watching
over one of Utah's most notorious criminals.

In his backyard workshop Chuck Larsen has spent years
learning to make very convincing fake coins. Now he's written
a book on the subject: "Numismatic Forgery". He's taught
himself to make everything from Greek tetradrachms to Mormon
Pioneer 10-dollar-gold-pieces."

"He makes hand-cut dies and special punches that embed words
and images in metal. He designed a machine to "mint" coins. He
hauls on a rope to raise a heavy weight. It stamps out a coin
that's possibly good enough to trick a collector into thinking it
was minted by pioneers in 1849.

Which brings us to a man famous in the 1980's --
Mark Hofman, bomber, murderer, master forger of documents.

Chuck Larson: ?Oh I learned all kinds of scary techniques that
he had. ... he also had a hunger. Mark craved attention and
he liked to go ahead and boast of the things he'd done. And
he liked to be appreciated for it."

"Larson's book will be released Saturday. In manuscript form
it's already being used as a teaching aid for rare-coin collectors."

To read the full story, see: Full Story

[Have any of our readers seen the manuscript? Does anyone
know where to order the book? The article didn't say, and
a web search came up empty, as did a search of Amazon,
which often lists titles prior to publication.

This is only the latest of several books that have been written
about Hofmann, a master forger who created convincing fakes
of rare coins and currency, and invented out of whole cloth
fantasy documents related to the early Mormon church. He
resorted to building pipe bombs to kill witnesses and cover
his tracks, but was caught nonetheless.

Hofmann was the subject of American Numismatic Association
convention Numismatic Theatre talks by Eric Newman and
Al Rust, a Utah coin and currency dealer who was duped by
Hofmann. As General Chairman of the 2004 convention, I'd
love to have a new talk or panel session about Hofmann and
his works. Would any of our readers be game? Who knows,
perhaps we could get Mr. Larson to speak. -Editor]

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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