Just picked this one up over the weekend, it's a S-81 with the double leaf under the N in UNITED. Not thrilled with the pictures but wanted to get opinions on grade. The surfaces are a little rough.
I had the same concerns but I had jel check it over and he said it looked good. Still gonna send it down to have someone else look at it, but the weight is good.
Very scary color is wrong (cleaned?) enviro damage? But had the weak strike look and granular surface look and the off color of the Chinese fakes I'd either run the other direction or send it to a tpg to at least get a details genuine grade but in my opinion it scares me away
That weak center is typical of Chinese cast fakes too it doesn't look like a weakly struck and worn coin just looks plain wrong to me
True about the variety and I know how bad photos ca be wish I could see it in hand the gd Chinese and their gd fakes makes me want to nuke em why can't they leave well enough alone and stick to making cheap plastic crap for walmart it makes me paranoid about buying coins that aren't graded or don't read like a book without seeing them in hand and I have 30 years buying coins and until a couple years ago any and all fakes were altered genuine coins or so low grade they were obvious in a second they keep refining these Chinese ones to the point I never know what to expect and what to trust parts of it look ok tho how about a shot of the rim might help
Like I said, I understand the concerns as I had them as we'll. had it checked out by one long time copper dealer and am going to have some else take a look as well before my return period runs out. Thanks again for everyone's concerns about it, better to be safe than sorry.
Brian, looks like an EAC F15, possibly slightly nicer details, to me with light even surface porosity-somewhat lower net- maybe a 10+. The coin has been worked a bit- maybe to remove some porosity - I see hairlines in the lower left field extending across the lower hair locks. Possibly cleaned and looks to be recolored (taking the off color pic into account). IMO, I think it's genuine. Doesn't have the look of a Chinese fake or other copy to me. You said weight is good. Weak center reverse strike is consistent with that usually seen on the S-81. Photographer was no Ansel Adams (maybe on a 60s acid trip ) , but did at least capture crisp detail. Congrats.
Dave, thanks for the reply and honest assessment, I suppose I should keep my day job instead of doing coin photography The weight was good and I agree with your assessment, I think it was worked to remove some corrosion and then recolored. The photos are too orange, but in hand it's a walnut color.
I have seen much worse in the way of photos. But it wouldn't hurt to hang onto the day job for a while
The coin looks good, but the photos need less color enhancement. Sometimes it is intentional, but sometimes it is an automatic setting on the electronic cameras.
