U.S. COIN REPLICAS FROM NEAL SHERMAN'S MARYLAND MINT

Flip a coin. Go ahead. There's no risk because if you flip a novelty two-headed Morgan silver dollar, produced by The Maryland Mint based in Ocean Pines, you can't lose. Just remember to call "heads."

Two-headed coins are popular items sold by Maryland Mint owner Neil Sherman, who started the coin reproduction business from his home a few years ago after retiring as a Maryland detective.

For sale are exact replicas of coins, including those rare and valued at thousands of dollars, allowing numismatists to complete collections.

Sherman, a knowledgeable and soft-spoken man with a quick smile, emphasizes The Maryland Mint is not affiliated with the state of Maryland. Coins can be ordered from themarylandmint.com.

His interest in starting a coin reproduction business grew after he bought a reproduction of a coin from The Royal Oak Mint in Michigan. In a typical week, he fills about 50 orders.

Making reproductions is permitted under The Hobby Protection Act, a federal government act. All reproductions have the word "copy," but Sherman buries the word within the design on the coin so it is subtle.

Among reproductions are the rare 1915-S Panama round gold coin and rare 1915-S $50 Panama octagonal gold coin. The coins were made during construction of the Panama Canal. Only 484 were made.

Coin reproductions from 1793 to 2009 are sold, as well as reproductions of the 8-ounce gold bar, popular with collectors who put them on their desks or use them as paperweights.

Sherman, whose business was featured in Coin World magazine, sells wholesale to dealers in Sweden and German and also has dealers in Tennessee, New York City, California and Florida. His coins are in the shop at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History in Atlanta.

They were on the silver screen, too, used in a robbery scene in a movie filmed in Washington, D.C.

His next endeavor is selling coins with business logos on them. Locally, a bank and jewelry store are interested.

The business is enjoyable in retirement, and Sherman called it "the perfect one-man or one-woman business."

To read the complete article, see: When a close-enough coin is good enough (www.delmarvanow.com/article/20091229/OPI06/912290333)

Wayne Homren, Editor

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