1795 silver dollar - authentic?

Discussion in 'US Coins Forum' started by PDKHort, Mar 22, 2021.

  1. PDKHort

    PDKHort New Member

    I stumbled upon this half dollar and spent some time analysis re varieties. Not so much re the counterstrikes which are another matter entirely. This "looks" like a real McCoy? 1795aa.jpg 1795bb.jpg
     
    Last edited: Mar 22, 2021
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  3. potty dollar 1878

    potty dollar 1878 Well-Known Member

    I would be suspicious over any 1795 dollar thats not slabbed,damaged or not but it could be real im no expert.
     
    GH#75 likes this.
  4. johnmilton

    johnmilton Well-Known Member

    It looks genuine to me, but you would have to find a collector who is into counterstamps to get any real money for it.
     
  5. PDKHort

    PDKHort New Member

    I agree guys. At these ages unslabbed I always view as suspicious. Counterstamps and such put them in the "outer limits" of numismatics so it's comparing apples to oranges.
     
  6. TypeCoin971793

    TypeCoin971793 Just a random guy on the internet

    This coin looks real to me
     
  7. Mat

    Mat Ancient Coincoholic

    Looks good to me too.
     
  8. Robert Ransom

    Robert Ransom Well-Known Member

    Desecration I say, desecration. :mad:
     
    PDKHort likes this.
  9. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan Eclectic & Eccentric Moderator

    Looks good to me, and the counterstamps, while they reduce its value in the mainstream sense, are interesting and worthy of research. In the unlikely event that “L.P. SANFORD / A.B.H.” has an important historical significance that could be pinned down, the stamps could actually increase the value (within a very narrow niche market). I doubt that’ll be the case, but it’s interesting nonetheless.
     
  10. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan Eclectic & Eccentric Moderator

    Looks good to me, and the counterstamps, while they reduce its value in the mainstream sense, are interesting and worthy of research. In the unlikely event that “L.P. SANFORD / A.B.H.” has an important historical significance that could be pinned down, the stamps could actually increase the value (within a very narrow niche market). I doubt that’ll be the case, but it’s interesting nonetheless.
     
  11. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan Eclectic & Eccentric Moderator

    I don’t say that at all. I might say that if the coin had been whizzed or polished or cut, knifed, etc. Mistreated in modern times, in other words. But I don’t say that about a historical merchant’s mark (or whatever that is).

    It’s a coin that did its time in commerce, and, while the counterstamps might not make it beautiful, they’re interesting, and part of its historical backstory.

    To me, there’s interesting damage (good, or ... well... neutral, at least), and plain old damage damage (bad).

    I hear you saying “But there is no such thing as ‘good damage’!”, and while you might be right about that, some kinds of damage are less objectionable than others, is all I’m sayin’.
     
    ksparrow likes this.
  12. Robert Ransom

    Robert Ransom Well-Known Member

    While you may think tracing some shopkeeper's counter-stamp is interesting, I do not think defacing American Coinage is acceptable, period Let's agree to disagree.
     
    David Betts and PDKHort like this.
  13. eddiespin

    eddiespin Fast Eddie

    The counter-stamp, and in that font, too, appears on other period coins, I just saw the images in a quick search. So right there, why would the coins be fakes? I'd think the counter-stamps, whomever the person is, are indicia the coins are genuine.
     
  14. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan Eclectic & Eccentric Moderator


    Agreed.
     
  15. PDKHort

    PDKHort New Member

  16. coinup

    coinup Junior Member

    What was the purpose of counter-stamping? Was it to show receipt of payment, or for deposit??
     
  17. PDKHort

    PDKHort New Member

    That caught my eye as a present now-blue collar 3rd generation steelworker one-man business looking to advertise. What IF counter stamping coins wasn't the latest "fad" or exuberance of a growing nation. Today we have all these digital avenues; what "traveled' most in colonial days but COINS hence they might be the seen as the US precursors of advertising. It's just that no one with any brains or sees outside-the-box realizes the connection between the Nation's founding some cretin pounding his stamp on a coin and some dimwit pounding her fingertip on a touch screen!! Glorious!! Context is everything ;)
     
  18. PDKHort

    PDKHort New Member

    Thanks everyone. I stuck my neck out making a public inquiry this coin (the per the thread views). Granted a niche numismatic not to everyone's preference and I'd negotiated a slight price reduction...I went ahead and purchased this 1st generation silver half dollar.
     
    lordmarcovan likes this.
  19. Conder101

    Conder101 Numismatist

    How about an Ephram Brasher counterstamp on an otherwise common gold coin? Brassher had a job as a "regulator" who was to examine gold coins at the time, determine if they were of proper content, adjust them if needed and then mark them as a guarantee of value. There were also other "Regulators" including one other that used an EB counterstamp. Very few coins still survive today with these Regulator counterstamps.

    Other than those that are just random testing of stamps, most of them were for advertising purposes. I don't know what the A. B. H. stands for but is quite possible that it might have been a business and L. P. Sanford was well known in his local community. In which case the counterstamp could be for advertising.
     
    coinup likes this.
  20. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan Eclectic & Eccentric Moderator

    Congrats. It’s a cool piece.
     
  21. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan Eclectic & Eccentric Moderator

    Yes, it’s true. They were the mass-market billboards of the day. A billboard that could fit in one’s pocket, that would be seen by dozens if not hundreds of people over time.

    The Romans knew this full well, which is how coins became their medium for imperial propaganda. And it is largely thanks to those coins that we now know so much about their history today, one and a half to two millennia later. History which would have otherwise been lost to time.

    Paradoxically, it is precisely because some coins were lost to time, or secreted in buried hoards, that they have come down to us through the centuries and told their stories.
     
    PDKHort likes this.
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