Genuine or Fake? 1837 Capped Bust Half

Pictured below is an 1837 Reeded Edge Capped Bust Half Dollar.

Do you think this coin is genuine or counterfeit? Please explain your reasoning.

 

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Not an expert here, but I would say Questionable leaning to Counterfeit.

1st flag- is the stars, the one at 11 clock is bold the rest are worn to well worn.

2nd flag-There appears to be a lot of extra raised areas in the word "states" tooling marks?

3rd flag- Several areas of raised metal in the leaves.

4th flag- the rev rim is well worn but the eagles details are sharp.

5th flag- the vertical lines on the eagles shield seem to be cut into and the outline of the shield.(maybe its the pic, or toning?)

Question is the coin surface smooth?

I do not have one of these to compair to, these are the things that catch my eye.

 

What's it weigh? If that coin's a fake it's a very good one. The difference in the letter detail doesn't bother me. It could've come from grease in the die edge die. I see a nice die crack running from the cap to the stars. I vote real.

 

I'm a rookie....I don't like the wear on the segments of the reverse as opposed to a not so well worn eagle. I vote fake.

 

Check out the link below....

http://images.heritagecoin.com/images/hnai/reiver/page_02.htm

I think it is a real ... Type 2, Reeded Edge, "50 CENTS" on Reverse....

In pretty decent shape too. XF/ AU 53

 

Looks real to me - not an expert and have not looked at a lot of them.

 

Looks real to me, but I'm not a follower of this series.

 

I am 99.9% sure it is authentic- The dies cracks on the OBV off the cap & REV thru states match up with others I have seen.

 

I continue my education.......

 

Most of what you described can be typical of strike for these coins - even though they were produced on a steam press the mint was still working out the kinks at that time.

 

That's right....this is the first year of this series being struck on a steam press. :hatch:

Big fan of your counterfeit/altered coin thread Budgood.

 

looks real to me based on what I can see.

 

For the most part it looks ok to me. Though I wish I could see the O in OF a bit better. The inside looks almost round instead of oval. Probably just the pic though.
Guy~

 

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Thought 1836 was the first year for steam press???

 

It was. There were a few half dollars minted by steam (with a reeded edge) towards the end of 1836 and the mintage was very low (1,200).

 

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Very interesting, CBD. Very interesting indeed.

 

The coin I posted to start this thread is in an active eBay auction. It is item # 370076157065 and can be found here.

I thought this coin would be a good exercize in counterfeit detection. The coin has some features that should make one look closer (e.g., surface pitting) but I have no doubt it is genuine.