If fantasy coins sound, um, rather fantastic, there’s a reason for that… fantasy coins are essentially coins that could have been made but actually weren’t.
If that sounds confusing, it really isn’t.
Fantasy coins are made to portray something that never happened or, in many cases, act as coins that might have been made at a certain point in history but for whatever reason didn’t ever materialize.
An example of a fantasy coin would be something like a piece featuring John McCain or Al Gore as president (which almost happened in both cases, but never did).
Oh, But I Thought Fantasy Coins Were…
…If you think fantasy coins mean those which are so expensive and rare that you’ll probably never own one, you’re right, too — to a degree. Many coin collectors refer to the ultra-rare, iconic rarities like the 1913 Liberty nickel and 1804 Bust silver dollar as fantasy coins.
Fantasy coins can also refer to unauthorized strikings of coins combining designs that were never meant to be paired together — like a Jefferson nickel obverse with a Buffalo nickel reverse.
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