See below. https://www.ebay.com/itm/1870-Seate...719817?hash=item2aebebb649:g:H~EAAOSwXspe-orL To me, this seems like a possible Chinese fake that has been deliberately worn and holed to make it seem more palatable to the unsuspecting buyer. Thoughts?
Fraud. Look at the hole. Its not worn like the coin. So the seller is having us believe a rare coin like that, (forget the date, any SL silver dollar), would have been found and someone put a hole in it recently, not attempting to see if it may be worth something? Your premise may have held water, (maybe), if the hole was worn as well. As it is, the seller either knows or is so stupid you should not do business with them anyway. I buy some stuff on Ebay, but wandered off my searchlists the other day and Ick. What a pile of worthless imitations and crap. Looks like the worst part of a combination low end asian flea market and bad garage sale. I didn't realize Ebay had gotten so crummy. OBVIOUS fakes by the tens of thousands. No way ANYONE at Ebay spends ANY time removing fakes from there.
Not much else to say, except that I wish they could get the fingerprints of the seller from the third photo. He needs a new residence with four walls and doors that don't open for him.
My first thought was also the hole it stood out and did not look right for the age of the coin. My opinion only.
Trying to get ebay to police the individuals who post fakes would be like getting facebook, twitter, etc. to treat everyone equally, as long as it serves their purpose and they are making money - it ain't gonna happen! Semper Fi
What jumps out to me is the wear on the reverse. I've never seen one with wear on the inside of the shield like that before. Usually that is the last part to wear because it is a low point. I say fake.
Nope just got relisted https://www.ebay.com/itm/1870-CC-Se...415578?hash=item2aebf6541a:g:H~EAAOSwXspe-orL
Actually I just posted about EBay not being a good source for "better coins". Someone replied to me showing a beautiful 1803 Bust dollar they bought raw, with poor photos on EBay for a very cheap price. The coin then slabbed VF35 CAC and it's definitely a beauty. Link is here. https://www.cointalk.com/threads/wi...-coin-market-crash.359989/page-6#post-4596520 I don't doubt that this can happen, but Bust dollars are one of the high profile coins that are counterfeited in China. You proably have to go thru a lot of junk before you find a good authentic one that someone's selling for less than half of it's worth.
Yeah, I don't have one and have wanted one for years. Looking at Heritage, they've sold ~205 1803's (or maybe it was Bust/ Hereldic Eagles) in VF 20-25 and another ~207 in VF 30-35. Of those only 6 made CAC. Of those 6 none were as nice as the raw coin this guy got for $1400. What Ebay seller would sell such a nice dollar for $1400? Note that I do have a really nice 1797 I bought raw at a small auction years ago. But I've never slabbed it & it's of a different type.