Coin Doctoring at it's worst.

I recall seeing advertisements in older coin journals that discretely implied a certain person guaranteed his repairs of holes or gouges would be visually undetectable, but the cost was beyond the baseline coins, and only suitable for the higher end. But that was before TPGs. Very Interesting all!

Jim

 

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I don't think most people who plug coins do so to try to fool people, they are asked to fill a hole by a collector who has a holed coin and would like to improve its appearance. Plugs can usually be seen, and with age usually more so.

I would consider AT, whizzers, and lots of other things much "worst" than pluggers. Pluggers are taking a damaged coin and making it look better, the others are ruining a perfectly good coin forever, these coins were already ruined in posterity.

 

Here is another AMERICAI example I lifted from Heritage. Notice how the L, B and E lower bars seem to droop a little. Odd. The E, however, is nothing like the E in the suspect coin.

I checked out a very nice AU53 1800 at a show today, but not a B-19. Again, the E was like this coin (long bottom) and not at all like the suspect coin.

 

Here are the 2 suspect spots superimposed over the same spot on the reverse.

E and the ear...
I'd love to know which it is. Either way, they did a great job.
Love this coin.
My personal guess is the ear. The front looks funny, and the lines in the shield on the reverse aren't as straight as the rest.
None of the lines are perfectly straight, but the rest are more consistent, these are wavy.

The 'E' looks funny, but not out of place, and the back is awful intricate for a complete re-do.

 

Nice work, ratio. Of course no one knows the real answer yet—or even what kind of hole it was—but the fact that we can't locate it (incl. the OP with coin in hand) suggests the craftsmanship is good enough that it could be anywhere, including in intricate places. I'm stating the obvious, but if the coin were to be used as a pendant, the E would be a prime area.

 

I'm thinking the hole was a little more to the right... between the E and the R towards the bottom of the letters.

 

Both letters look suspicious to me. Are you going to be able to find out eventually? We need closure, man!

 

I will probably take it to central states in Chicago and ask NGC to show me where it is.

 

Interesting NGC article about a plugged Half Eagle: http://www.ngccoin.com/news/viewarticle.aspx?NewsletterNewsArticleID=1190

Two things strike me: the location of the hole (although admittedly coincidence) and the fact that this alteration is clearly more evident than the work on your dollar. If the hole in your dollar is between E and R, that is some fine work!

 

Very interesting how the characters were reconstructed on this $5. I'm guessing they were cut out jigsaw-like and soldered to the level surface, just as probably on your coin. If they can rebuild the characters so well, doesn't it seem that they could have smoothed the field more?