1916 D Mercury Dime Slab swap?

Discussion in 'US Coins Forum' started by Gregory S Boland, Jan 3, 2021.

  1. Gregory S Boland

    Gregory S Boland New Member

    Ebay 1916D obverse with #.jpg A while after retirement recently, I got back into my childhood coin collections and have fallen in deep with one of my favorites, "Mercury" dimes. I remember holding up the lunch lines in elementary school asking the cashier at the lunch line to look through the dimes to trade me for any Mercury ones back in the early 60s. I just got a near complete set including the big Kahuna 1916 D and have been fascinated studying the 4 known mint mark dies and looking at the counterfeits on line (the Coin Talk April 9, 2010 “Test Your Authentication Powers” was a nice post). So, a recent observation of an Ebay sale has me a bit concerned. Perhaps some of you folks could weigh in: There was a sale of a 1916 D a week or so ago slabbed by PCGS. Looking at the mint mark alone, I laughed at what looked to me like a really poor job of counterfeiting carving out a poorly shaped "D" from the background. The wear was very typical for an AG coin except (to me) around the mint mark. There is a deep trench all around the "D" very different than the AG coin I have where the MM is worn nearly smooth on the edge side. The PCGS number goes to a 1916D cert, but no image. Three initial possibilities: 1) I am not recognizing a certain kind of strike that exhibits this kind of wear (trench around MM), 2) Someone took a certified 1916 D coin out of the slab and replaced with a counterfeit, or 3) someone at PCGS certified an altered $3 1916 AG dime that allowed its sale for over $580. #2 and 3 are a bit disturbing. My thanks for any thoughts?


    Ebay 1916D obverse with #.jpg 1916D dime reverse close-up is it real.jpg
     
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  3. Inspector43

    Inspector43 Celebrating 75 Years Active Collecting Supporter

    Can't make out anything on the reverse. The magnification is too high.
     
  4. Randy Abercrombie

    Randy Abercrombie Supporter! Supporter

    Could it be possible that the grime lends an appearance of being shadowed/carved out? The grime around the mint mark appears consistent with the grime on the other devices. I have two and a half 1916-D dimes. One is slabbed and resides in my safe deposit box. The second is an extremely well executed counterfeit that resides in my book... And the half is a very, very worn 1916-something dime. The rims are worn in but you can see the top of the mintmark. I posted a thread here and the consensus was the mark was a “D”. I did send it in and PCGS wouldn’t certify it....... My whole point is that PCGS is extremely conservative with a coin like this. Do you really think they would miss a carved out mintmark?
     
  5. Beefer518

    Beefer518 Well-Known Member

    The other possibility is that it's a counterfeit slab. Looking at the listing, I also question the authenticity of the MM, but I am in no way knowledgeable in Merc dimes to really say anything, but it does look odd to me.

    Looking at the seller's other current auctions, I don't like the Classic Commemoratves he's offering, as they also seem very questionable to me.

    One thing I'm also not not crazy about is the seller's location; where is "Safe, United States"?

    On the other hand, this is on his feedback page:

    So who knows....:confused:
     
  6. manny9655

    manny9655 Well-Known Member

    Unfortunately PCGS has a listing but no image for the OP coin.
     
  7. Garlicus

    Garlicus Debt is dumb, cash is king.

    That slab looks odd to me. Can’t say that I have seen a PCGS slab that has that opaque/milky white area holding the coin, that is the thing I noticed before even looking at the coin. What I can see of the top corner doesn’t look right, either.
     
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