Here’s an 1853 liberty seat at halftime with arrows. The arrows designated a reduction in the amount of silver as per an act of Congress. It’s in very good condition and the only problem with the Coin is it’s its counterfeit
ldhair raised the only money question in here and nobody has put a number on either side of it, so I went and pulled what these actually close at. eBay sold listings, last 90 days, "1853 seated liberty half dime arrows", 30 results. Five rows came back that are not comparable and I will name them rather than quietly average them in: an 1854 half DOLLAR in a PCGS AU50 shipwreck holder at $1550.00, a 15-coin seated type lot at $145.19, a collection of three half dimes at $57.00, an 1860 half dime at $59.99, and an 1853 seated DIME (not a half dime) holed at $5.50. That leaves 25 real 1853 half dimes. Raw, low grade, seller-stated: $5.50 (12 Sep, "lower grade"), $10.50 (13 Sep), $14.55 (12 Sep, 1853-O Good), $15.50 (14 Sep), $16.50 (17 Sep, VG), $18.50 (16 Sep), $20.00 (14 Sep, G), $21.50 (13 Sep), $22.50 (13 Sep), $25.00 (13 Sep, Good) Raw, mid grade: $29.88 (13 Sep), $32.00 (16 Sep, VF), $34.00 (12 Sep, 1853-O), $35.99 (15 Sep, 1853-O VG), $39.99 (15 Sep), $49.00 (13 Sep, Ch VF), $49.95 (14 Sep, F-116 VF), $49.99 (15 Sep, 1853-O) Slabbed: ANACS F12 $28.00 (12 Sep), ANACS VF Details $36.00 (14 Sep), PCGS VF20 $51.55 (12 Sep), NGC VF25 $53.00 (17 Sep), ANACS VF35 $66.00 (14 Sep) Problem coins, which is the useful end here: holed, circulated $10.50 (15 Sep), VG Details with a slight bend $15.99 (13 Sep) Range $5.50 to $66.00, median $28.00 across the 25. Now the part I could not price, and I would rather say so than guess. "Worth more as a counterfeit" gets no support from closings anywhere I can see. I ran four different keyword shapes over the same 90 days: counterfeit seated liberty half dime, counterfeit half dime, contemporary counterfeit seated liberty, and replica seated liberty half dime copy. Every one of them came back with zero priced rows. That is not because nobody collects them, it is because eBay prohibits the listing outright, so the word never appears in a completed sale and the venue simply cannot tell you what one brings. If there is a premium for contemporary counterfeits of this series it is being paid somewhere that is not eBay, and anyone quoting a number off eBay for one is quoting an empty set. What that leaves you with, practically: the genuine coin in the condition described is a $16 to $25 coin, and a genuine one with a real problem, holed or bent, is a $10 to $16 coin. That is the band the counterfeit is competing against as a space filler, not the $50 to $66 slabbed end. Two checks that cost nothing and settle more than a photo can: 1. Weigh it. The arrows on the 1853 are there because Congress cut the standard, so a genuine one runs 1.24 grams, where an 1852 and earlier runs 1.34. Struck contemporary fakes in German silver or white metal usually miss that target, and a cast one generally comes in light and soft. A $10 kitchen or jeweler's scale with 0.01 g resolution answers it in ten seconds, and the answer is a number you can post here. 2. Look at the edge under a loupe and roll the coin slowly. A cast piece shows a seam, a slightly rounded rim and small round pits in the fields from air in the mold. A struck counterfeit will not show any of that but will usually show soft, mushy denticles where a real die gives you sharp ones. If you weigh it and post the number plus an edge shot, the room can tell you whether you are holding a period counterfeit, which is collectible, or a modern souvenir, which is not, and those two are nowhere near each other in money.
