Utah history buff strikes `gold'

Because many love gold and many love Mormon history, Chuck Larson said he decided to mint a replica of a rare $10 Mormon coin from 1849.

And he learned much of what he knows about making replica coins from perhaps Utah's most famous replicator - Mark Hofmann , the infamous forger of historical LDS Church documents.

But Larson doesn't hide the fact that his coins are replicas, and he makes the coins to provide people with a taste of history that all can afford.

"Mormon gold coins are so rare and so valuable that only very wealthy people can own them," Larson said.

Brigham Young designed the original coin, which bears the words, "Holiness to the Lord" and the symbol of liberty, a floppy beret. On the reverse side are clasped hands.

The original 1849 coins were the first to be generated from California gold dust. Because dust was difficult to handle, most people liked to convert it to a coin. Most used the coins to purchase items from the East. When the coins reached banks, they were sent to the U.S. Mint to be melted.

Larson's replica coins look authentic but only weigh about half as much because they are made of copper, not gold. Still, he says they are a high-quality heirloom that are part of LDS Church history.

"There's a lot of history just dripping from them," said Larson, an Orem historian. "I touch one of them, and it is like a catalyst to transport you historically."

Larson's interest in minting the coins basically comes from his former work as a block sergeant at the Utah State Prison and from research he's done for a book he's writing on forgery.

From 1986 until 1988, Larson was the block sergeant for Hofmann, the forger of LDS Church documents who is serving time for killing those who could have exposed his scheme. Larson had many long talks with Hofmann.

"We talked about forgery, Mormon history and things like that," he said. "I showed him a little bit of the research I was doing into numismatic forgery at the time and he told me it was a shame we didn't know each other on the street."

Larson is even using one of Hofmann's original forgery tools to create his replica Mormon coins. The electroplating machine Larson plates his coins with is the same one Hofmann used as a teenager to forge U.S. coins that were mismint-marked. Larson received the machine as a gift a few months ago from Brian Rust, son of Alvin Rust, who Hofmann sold many misminted coins to.

Larson is minting the Mormon coin replicas for America's Freedom Festival at Provo, using machinery he constructed by hand to mirror tools early Utahns used.

"We make everything here, you can't get any of it at Kmart," he said.

Through research, he learned to create replicas of the tools early Utahns used to mint coins.