If anyone here with experience has hints on this please let me know, any hints are MUCH appreciated. If you know a better place to post this question in the forum please let me know too since I'm rather new here. My wife bought this (for $95) without consulting me but I suspect it's a fake but still, it "looks" real enough! She still hasn't paid yet so we can still avoid to pay if it turns out to be fake. The seller seems honest with good feedback on ebay but since the seller is from Hong Kong & selling such coins ,well... that raises a red flag for me. Any hints are appreciated, thanks. Here's a link to the auction: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180326984492
With out doing research the coin does look good.......but, there is no returns and the seller is in Hong Kong, so......Buyer beware and do some good research. Hopefully someone with more knowledge than me will chime in.
Pro: The denticles look good The slight irregularity of the rim appears to be a result of shooting the picture at an angle, not the typical Chinese poorly cast rim There is no sign of casting bubbles The guy's been around a long time with 100% feedback (under the new system) Con: Always check Toolhaus.Org
Thanks for the insightful reply. However, I just got a response from the seller. The coin weighs 13.4g. Huh, I checked it out in Krause & it is supposed to be 12.5g. I guess this was a very well done fake??
Most likely it is. The seller has 100% feedback..so tell him to accept a return, other wise he will have his first negative. stainless
Rule #1: If you have to ask, it is probably a fake; Rule #2: If it is from Hong Kong: it is probably a fake; Rule #3: If it is from China: it is probably a fake; Rule #4: When in doubt: assume: it is probably a fake;
That one is scary. I looked it over and I don't see anything wrong with it. The 1 neg he has is from three years ago. But it's from Hong Kong and it is overweight. (Why would he admit that it is overweight?)
It has been pointed out to me now that many of these halfdollars are fakes, not only from china & HK. What I found out was this, if you compare this one to another from a slab, you'd see some differences. My wife's mistake was that she compared to another unslabbed (which was sold by a US seller for over $200) & they looked pretty identical. Not so copared to the slabbed one, an obvious (now) difference is the lettering (particularly the 1). But why admit overweight coin? I guess he didn't know it was fake?? seems quite honest or ignorant... not sure which.
Well, the weight issue certainly outs it as a forgery. Looking at it closely, I think it's a better than average transfer die forgery. There are problems with the letters (the obverse K's in particular) and raised blems of metal on the reverse (central shield). Some general roundedness/mushiness to the letters overall, but I could see how someone could be fooled by this clever fake. The Hawaii issues are so heavily forged, it is risky to buy them outside of a top-tier slab (or in most cases, from Asian sellers).
This seller's other ended auctions seem also like fakes, but definately very good ones. He had a florin & a german thaler that could have fooled me anytime & I would probably never have questioned them if they came from a western seller with good feedback or from a dealer... makes me think I need to check every single coin I have.
