I have a Hardy Boys book “The Melted Coins” in which fictional characters were shown a Pine Tree Shilling dated 1681. This may well be about when the coin was made, but Pine Tree Shillings were back dated to 1652 (and some fractions to 1662). This is one example of an author’s inaccurate description of a real coin in a fictional story, with no harm done. The challenge for E-Sylum readers is to tell of other inaccurate coin descriptions (real or fictional) that lead to a good story.

For example, the Walton 1913 Liberty Head nickel was held in a holder for an altered date 1913 counterfeit for 40 years and how that misattribution and rediscovery captured the imagination of numismatic convention-goers in Baltimore in 2003. There must be dozens of pretty good stories arising from inaccurate descriptions of coins. Perhaps a numismatist features as the hero in your (mostly) true tale, or perhaps the villain who misattributed the coin in the first place. Do tell - keeping artistic license to a minimum.