From Tom DeLorey (with regards to last month's article of counterfeit dimes):

As to the economic viability of making counterfeit dimes for circulation, I would suggest that many of them were made in metal-working shops that already had the equipment necessary to do so, so they would not require an investment in equipment that would increase the cost of each counterfeit.

And, it is quite possible that the counterfeits were made by employees of such metal-working shops without the knowledge of the lawful proprietor. By stealing materials, time and the use of equipment the counterfeiter can actually achieve 10 cents profit on a counterfeit dime, if he can pass it.

Ed Fleischmann, my mentor at Coin World and one of the earliest members of the LSCC, once told me a story about having some guy he knew there in Sidney, OH showing him a cast aluminum 1964 Kennedy half dollar. He told the guy that was illegal, and the guy said, no, no, he wasn't going to spend it, he just wanted to see if he could do it. Then one ended up in the cash register of a local bar.

There were two aluminum foundries in town at the time. A Secret Service agent visited the President of each, showed them the coin, and told them that when they figured out which one of them made the coin they were going to shut the foundry down.

For more information on the LSCC, see:www.lsccweb.org