I bought this coin about 15 years ago from a trusted dealer and after cursory inspection it seemed to be OK. But after recently looking at photos that I took of the coin, I have concluded that it is a counterfeit. Breen states in his catalog that contemporary counterfeits of the 1861 3-cent silver are known to exist. My question is, how can I tell if if this is actually a contemporary counterfeit?
I love contemporary counterfeit 3 Cent Silver pieces - especially those made from hand-cut dies. Can you post larger photos of your coin? I cannot enlarge your photos and cannot see much detail in the small photos.
Those are great, guys. I love these things. Just last week I picked up one on eBay but mine is very weakly struck.
I agree and find it amazing that they actually did them. Time and labor must of been cheaper back then.
How can you tell? The United States of America looks a little strange to me, but I'm not sure that's the giveaway.
The reverse looks like it has a die clash at the lower right of III. That's really cool. Not sure I have seen that before on a contemporary counterfeit.
What keyed it for me was the star outlines. They should be evenly spaced and come together sharply at the junctions. Look at the inner junction below TE and the point above the 86. Sloppy. Many of the outline segments extend past their points or jucntions. The outlines of the shield are not even either.
There was a coin shortage during the Civil War and people eagerly accepted coins when they were offered. Given the small size of the 3-cent coin, most people probably couldn't distinguish the details clearly even on a genuine specimen, so the counterfeiters might have felt this would have been the easiest coin to pass.
