Yes the whole thing looks wrong I noticed the horn like shapes also awhile ago but thought they were just some kind of damage from circulation.
How recent do you think the job was done?sorry @Lostinspace not a 1928 don't get it certified but what do you think it originally was @charley.
There was a Chicago Tooler still active in the mid 80s, with similar work. Who knows. The other thing is that there are only 4 dies and none of the diagnostics and 2 of the four can't be detected on this piece...not because of wear or intentional removal, but because they are not there. For instance, there is no raised line @ the B toward the tiara or to the left of the E, or a raised line connecting2 strands of hair. The 9 really did it for me, though.
Excellent work! Thanks for bringing us along. I tried to master the diagnostics for the 1928-P, but I didn't have very good luck. It was quite a while ago; I should try again, now that I've spent more time studying other coins. I have a harshly-cleaned 1928-P, and I'd like to settle my own mind about whether it's real.
Sorry, missed this question. A three, most likely, based on the size of the loops. I did, for a moment, think it may have been counterfeit, because I sort of detected what looked like a third ray, and the reverse didn't look right, but that would not make sense in the case of this piece, because that would mean it was a paired die set, and why do that then alter the 3. Soooo... I don't know stuff.
The thing is, the 28 is usually a very well struck piece and most are found in higher grades, so when it is a suck wear coin, with lots of dinks and danks and quoinks and gloops, then that should trigger a wait a minute reaction. There was a piece a while back, that paired a 35 reverse...it made it all the way to the TPG. You will be fine. If I can find my ohoh lookatthat little 3"X4" Peace handbook, I will try to have my neighbor take a shot of it and I will PM you.
I figured it was too good to be true. Dad had some okay stuff but, in the hundreds of coins I've handled out of his piles, there haven't been any key dates or desirable varieties. Good to know. Thanks for looking!
Thank you, but I am not infallible. I know there are 2 Active TPG Graders here, and I know there are 2 others not active, and I know there are 2 other Peace guys, one of whom knows the work of Van Allen and Whidden well, so they can help if they chime in. It is not unusual for me to be wrong. Most graded pieces are in the 45-64 range, but even genuine pieces are TPG'd in lower grades and the obvious question is why wouldn't this piece have at a minimum been submitted, by somebody, not necessarily your dad but by someone that had it over the years? Probably because they knew the diagnostics and passed.
Hey, I can answer that for mine: I didn't submit it, not even to ANACS, because (a) somebody went after it with a steel brush, so it's an unappealing XF details at best, and (b) the demand and price for 1928-P's was plummeting. I may change my mind at some point.
I would change your mind. The days of just sending the piece back in a little plastic gum wrapper are gone, and it would at least be encapsulated and an excellent example tool.
I'm not a Peace dollar collector, but I've come to trust my gut. One look and I thought the coin was "kinky" but didn't really bother the closely examine it as I wouldn't know what to look for. Just my immediate gut feeling. I see no one asked about the weight or if it is magnetic.
Here's a close up of the 8. I did a little more soak and rolled a q-tip over it real gentle like. I'm gonna take it to the LCS on saturday and get a second opinion. Thanks, again everyone.