I'm really struggling with photography here. Neither my phone, my tablets, nor my digicam seems to take decent pics. So it must be me?? Post your “splurge” buy coin that you bought recently. Here is a screen shot of the image I posted in the OP. (One-click enlarged, obviously.)This isn't clear to everyone? Also, as an aside: How is it that some of the legends are as clear as if they were struck yesterday, on an otherwise aged coin? I've seen this before.
The moral of the story is don't buy an expensive coin unless it is slabbed. "Reputable" dealer or not. Everybody makes mistakes.
The 1809 is a Chinese struck counterfeit made from spark erosion dies. It is made of plated brass (mostly likely; cheap and non-magnetic). The 1832 looks genuine to me. I see clear evidence of natural circulation. Stylistically, it looks right as well. Quick attribution says O-106
The moral of the story is actually don't buy an expensive coin unless you know what you are doing. Fake slabs exist, and experts buy raw $$$$$ coins all the time.
I'm not all that wise, but if the 32 is underweight then it's a cast copy of the O-106. Check the edge lettering.
Sorry, I forgot about this thread. You are exactly right: the 1832 has now been professionally authenticated. The 1809 (as we all agree) is a fake; fortunately sold to me as such.
By the time I realized I had alerts, I had almost 300 of them. Watched threads is another that builds up.
I think I have alerts of every kind turned off, but what I'd like is to get email notifications of new private messages, and I haven't figured out how to do it.
Pm's only show up when you are logged in. Alerts, updates to the threads you responded too. Don't turn those off.