I need Schooled on early half dollars!

I don't know this series at all- seller of toys and misc (no coins in feedback) has the following for sale bid to $1130.00 so far:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/125615078305?hash=item1d3f3dfba1:gMgAAOSwQIpjdFAa&fbclid=IwAR05K1osmgInowssa37NbGnD5YHhe_gmJdIM65NdEnYM9qTSjiCYYGi5vc4

Images have much in common with current ali offerings except that pesky "COPY"...




He notes you are buying it as a "replica"; why would folks run this up like this?

Figure I am missing something...

 

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Jack… I have always believed in my mind that when I saw all the pockmarks like this one has all over the obverse, that was a tell-tale sign of casting. Do I need to change that thought?

 

Randy I would agree with you; image of the edge usually helps verify.

 

Because people don't bother to ever read the descriptions lol.

 

Well, it is quite clearly a fairly low quality fake. I don't own any Flowing Hair halves, but I am currently in the middle of reading Steve Tompkins book on the subject. Highly recommend you add it to your library!

Anyways, 3 reasons people bid something like this up:
1. They don't know what they are looking at. They found a value somewhere, and they are just bidding blindly.
2. Greed. They are hoping they'll get lucky, cherrypick a rare coin, and win the lottery.
3. Sometimes, if a coin like this is posted on a website like this, or shared between knowledgeable collectors, those knowledgeable collectors will bid this up to a very high level in order to make sure that some poor fool doesn't get duped. They will then cancel the sale or report the item to Ebay. Ebay is a lot more likely to do something if someone actually buys an item that is then fake. And that way, the collectors are helping to protect to community. Can't say if that's what's happening here, but I've seen it happen several times (that I know of).

 

The listing was removed...

 

gone, gone, gone.

 

If it walks like a duck…

 

For a number of years those coins were produced until they had to put COPY on them .. when was that in 2018 ? after the flood of all the fake ASEs, AGEs then all the old coinage? So I'm not surprised to see the "non-COPY" versions out there still as ppl did buy them.

Maybe ppl don't know the recent history of all those fake coins that hit the market a few short years ago and thus think it's real.

 

Fake 1794 made from a 1795 T-1/O.119. The 1795 pictured is also a copy from a host 1795 T-1 die marriage, other than the copy stamp, the raised rim outside of the dentils identifies as fake/copy.

About a year ago, there were three of these fakes made from a 1795 T-1 host on eBay without copy stamps, bid to high levels. I called the Seattle Secret Service office and spoke to an agent - they are well aware of the flood of foreign fakes on eBay, but if they are made in a foreign country they do not have the authority or capability to enforce foreign counterfeiting. The three auctions were reported to eBay and cancelled. I did raise the possibility these could have been counterfeited in the US, but the agent thought they were foreign (China) made.

 

There's someone out there who would buy that coin, pay thousands and never remove it from that 2x2. Just stick it back with all their other coins.

 

Yup. And then their grandkids are devastated when they find out they did not, in fact, win the lottery when grandpa dies. I've sifted through a couple of estates where this happened. Hate to seem like the bad guy when I tell them the news, but.....

 

There's also people out there who don't know what they're buying. Buy cleaned and damaged coins. And end up with a collection of junk for their families.

 

And then there are these:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/3543739738...NXRrMCM52AS2x3FPe/MxqqhQ==|tkp:Bk9SR5awiPSRYQ

 

Remodel? What the heck is a remodel?

Haha, I've seen it all, now.

 

Found some others in archives; love this pair sold a while ago:

 

Yeah. It’s bad. I knew it was bad as soon as I studied it. Especially as it matches none of the 1794 die marriages. And the casting bubbles and all the other low quality marks of the Beijing mint

 

And now from the other forum...

 

Current listing on the Bay...



https://www.ebay.com/itm/3947004841...=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

 

It's gone already.