Newsies foil counterfeiters – Barber Half Dollar Coin

Today, the Barber Half Dollar Coin tells the tale of newsboys stopping counterfeiters 101 years ago.

On February 2, 1914, the Reading Eagle printed the following on their front page:

Boston, Feb. 2.

Clews given by newsboys resulted last night in the seizure of a counterfeiting plant in a west end bedroom and the arrest of 11 men on charges of making and passing spurious money.

In the last 17 days, according to the police, 6,000 bad half dollars have been circulated from this plant.

Much of the money found its way into the pockets of newsboys.

This put the boys on the alert and when two of them were victimized last night they followed the man who had passed the money and then told the story to a policeman.

The raid followed.

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This example of a worn 1905 Barber Half Dollar Coin shows against a group of newsboys (newsies) circa 1911.

Barber Half Dollar Coin