So a guy posted this coin on Facebook, saying he dug it up metal detecting and cleaned it. A couple of loudmouths don't believe his story, and are saying he is using a counterfeit he bought to garner attention. So is the coin authentic, and what is the variety? The closest I could come up with is N-26, using the original edition on Newcomb's book. I am not 100% sure of that attribution, though. There are at least 10 varieties I have not explored yet as they are not included in Newcomb's book. A couple uncleaned shots A Chinese fake for comparison.
The coin looks real to me. What's hard to believe is the coin pictured on the metal detector is the same coin shown in the top pic. That is an amazing cleaning job.
I can't say if the cleaned up coin is genuine, it does look pretty convincing, but I'm not sure it is the same coin as the dirty one. On the cleaned on I see some finning at 7:00 that I don't see on the dirty one, I see a pretty strong rim nick below star 11 that I don't see on the dirty one, and the is a strong nick on the truncation of the bust above the hair wave over the 5 that I don't see on the dirty one. The clean one looks like it may have repunching above the left foot of the first 1. If so that might help narrow down the attribution.
Looks good to me. The surfaces are consistent with environmental damage, and the uncleaned color is consistent with being dug up. The big thing I always check are the dentils - many times, fakes have mushy dentils. On the coin in question, those are crisp and sharp. I don't see anything about the coin that would make me question it.
I do see the finning on both. I also see the rim cut at k8 on both. Even more significant, the rim bump at k3 lines up perfectly. The cleaned and uncleaned coin are the same.
Seems OK. N-26 or N-15 seems plausible based on Grellman. N-13 also possible. Kind of need a sharper picture or better magnification to discern the date placement.
date position does look like N-15 or N-26. Pictures are not magnified enough to see the lines and lumps to tell for sure.
I'll take your word for it. I blew up the dirty one 500% and I couldn't see them. And I don't see a rim bump at K3.
Maybe the Aliens are teaching the Chinese how to perfect coins and we will never find out what's counterfeit our not!
