How charming it is to see this news item! Daws spent much legal money on gold to make one insignificant counterfeit cent, whereas J.S.G. Boggs monetized his own talents to create counterfeit notes worth far more than their face values. The strategies are opposite, but the aesthetic logic is identical: whatever it is made of, money is what we say it is, even if its substance (gold) or form (currency vignettes) causes us to value Daws' and Boggs' creations at rates far higher than their face values. This is an inherent property of numismatics as a practice. Any kid who finds a 1909-S VDB penny in change is only doing the same thing.

This story is highly suspect. The coin that the lady found supposedly weighed "three grams, one more than similar pennies from 1970." Small cents from 1864 to mid-1982, except for the 1943 steel cents, weighed 3.1 grams. An 18kt gold cent of the same volume as a normal 1970 cent would weigh approximately 4.5 to 5 grams.

Once again the general press proves itself to be an unreliable source of numismatic information. A cent from 1970 would weigh approximately 3.1 grams when new, a bit less when worn. Where these people got their figures is a mystery.