What is a racketeer nickel?

A racketeer nickel is the colloquial term for an 1883 Liberty V nickel that was gold plated and passed off as a $5 gold coin. Due to the fact that the 1883 Liberty V nickel had no ‘cents’ written on it and was almost the same size as the $5 gold coins going around, it was extremely easy for racketeers to gold-plate the nickel and pass it off as a gold coin.