Thread: How to tell if your 1909 S. V.D.B is real

I have noticed that there have been a couple of people asking about the 1909 S V.B.D cents recently. As this is something I have been trying to educate myself on I thought I would share a couple of the simplest ways to identify the most common fakes.

Below I will show a Fake example with a real 1909 S V.D.B below it.




#1 look at the mint mark

Fake


Real








#2 look at the reverse of the coin a real 1909 S V.D.B will have a shallow N

Fake



Real







# 3 On the revers of A real 1909 S V.D.B the dot in between the D and the B will be in the center and not to one side.

Fake



Real








If you have any more tricks pleas share . Hope this helped someone.


Edit I will try to add the contributions from this thread to the original post as they come .

Mint Mark Positions thanks to rlm's cents

Here is another picture you need for this thread. It shows the 4 positions of the mintmark.

Very informative. A keeper for my Lincoln file.

It is my last lincoln cent to acquire. This thread is a must keep!

Fake 1909-S VDB:



How to distinguish this particular fake from an authentic coin:

Red - The "E" and "R" are completely different than that of an authentic coin. The width of the lines of the "E" should be consistent and sharp. The tail of the "R" should not hook downwards - it should flow to the right.

Green - The tips of the wheat stalks should be pointed - not cut off.

Blue - The tops of the "N"s should not be rounded upwards - they should be flat.

Yellow - The right side of the "V" should be wide at the top and gradually thin towards the point, at the bottom. The middle line of the "B" should be angled upwards - never straight across. Also, the initials "V.D.B." should be slightly off-center, favoring the left wheat stem. The dot between "D" and "B" will be exactly centered to the left and right wheat stem (and like blue_oxen stated, that dot should be half-way between the "D" and "B", not favoring either one of them).

That picture looks awful familiar to me...
1909 s vdb

Originally Posted by mycohopper

Fake 1909-S VDB:


How to distinguish this particular fake from an authentic coin:

Red - The "E" and "R" are completely different than that of an authentic coin. The width of the lines of the "E" should be consistent and sharp. The tail of the "R" should not hook downwards - it should flow to the right.

Green - The tips of the wheat stalks should be pointed - not cut off.

Blue - The tops of the "N"s should not be rounded upwards - they should be flat.

Yellow - The right side of the "V" should be wide at the top and gradually thin towards the point, at the bottom. The middle line of the "B" should be angled upwards - never straight across. Also, the initials "V.D.B." should be slightly off-center, favoring the left wheat stem. The dot between "D" and "B" will be exactly centered to the left and right wheat stem (and like blue_oxen stated, that dot should be half-way between the "D" and "B", not favoring either one of them).

Some further info;

Originally Posted by The Penny Lady

This is a very helpful and informative article by Jaime Hernandez at PCGS (February 2, 2010) about learning how to tell the difference between an authentic 1909-S vdb and a counterfeit. For all you Lincoln cent lovers, I suggest printing it and keeping it at hand! Here's a link to the article:

http://www.pcgs.com/articles/article...=ezine02022010

Due to CT rules, I can't post the entire article, but here are some photos.

In the following images -

• Mint Mark # 1 has the highest "S" mint mark out of all four mint marks. Notice that the top of the "S" is above both the legs of the 9 digits from the date.
• Mint Mark # 2 has the top of the "S" mint mark flush to the bottom of the 9 digits on the date.
• Mint Mark # 3 also has the top of the "S" mint mark flush with both the bottom of the 9 digits on the date. However, the left side of the "S" mint mark is not flush vertically with the right of the first 9 in the date. Instead, it is vertically aligned closer to the center of the space between the first 9 and the 0 in the date.
• Mint Mark # 4 has the lowest mint mark position of all. The top of the "S" mint mark does not even come close to touching the bottom of the 9 digits.
• Genuine Mint Marks will also display parallel serifs. If you look at mint mark below labeled "Parallel Mint Mark" the two serifs point in the same direction vertically, in a parallel position.
• Genuine 1909-S VDB cents will have the VDB initials slightly slanted, specifically on the central crossbar of the letter "B."

Here is another trick that might help. Crop the 4 photos above showing the mintmark locations squarely around the date and mintmark. Set the width and maintain ratio of all 4 photos to a standard length.

Then whenever you want to verify a 1909-s VDB

1. Using a flatbed scanner - scan the cent to be verified
2. Squarely crop the date and mintmark of the scan
3. Set the cropped image to the standard width and maintain ration.
4. Overlay scanned image with the 4 from above.

You can also do the same thing with the V.D.B. on the reverse.

Originally Posted by mycohopper

The middle line of the "B" should be angled upwards - never straight across. Also, the initials "V.D.B." should be slightly off-center, favoring the left wheat stem.

that was the only thing i had heard, until today!! thank you for the extra info.

Here is a fake being sold on eBay recently. Notice the serif on the 1 in the date. The shape of the nines is also wrong.

wow, that fake is terrible

Here's one listed on Feb-3rd.
"CLEANED 101 Years Old"

How to tell a fake?

easy:


If it is on eBay----


it is fake.

Do you really think every non-slabbed 1909-S VDB on eBay is fake?

nss:
uh, if it makes you feel better:
No.


However, why spend that kind of money on a chance.

Slabbed is better.