When I mean 30 minutes ago it was technically 3 days ago but it was a large collection of almost entirely common Peace dollars. Also some nice Seated Liberty halves and a few Morgans (Including a pretty nice 91-cc). Collection was inherited from father. Son was a collector but by his own admission wanted the money more than the 500 or so coins. Can't blame anybody. Now about 30 minutes ago as I go through this large collection I opened a package of what I thought was another set of 1923 Peace and in a 2x2 holder I see this. How in the world me AND the son missed it is beyond me. We went through them in pretty good detail but in hindsight I think we got lazy and just inventoried rolls without actually going through them. Stupid on my part because with my luck there would be 40 cast counterfeits in there. I have attached some ok not great pictures. Nothing wrong in terms of diameter or weight and nothing glaring to me that says fake but as I have started doing: let the community take this journey with me. I have an old Bowers-Borckardt somewhere that I am pretty sure I have never, ever had to use. Ever.
Mushy denticles on the obverse and significantly less wear on the reverse than the obverse. Details look more or less right to me, but I'm not an expert on these. If I had to lay odds, I'd say 75% chance of it being fake. I'm assuming you've checked the weight and diameter already?
Yes weight and diameter are correct but that does not mean all that much honestly. I mean it is a good sign but they make counterfeits at the right weight/diameter. I have a few VERY good fakes in my personal 'counterfeit collection.'
Agreed, lots of wear on the obverse but little to none on the reverse. Denticles look mushy too and I don't really look at those often as they are way out of my price range. That's suspicious enough for me to be cautious.
Well it is already mine and I did not even know I had 'bought it' so I don't have to be cautious anymore. Lol
I agree, diameter and weight can be 100% correct for a struck counterfeit. I'm still at 75% chance of it being fake because of the things I noted.
There's only one single 1802 variety with a right foot on the T in LIBERTY, and a non-overdated 2. That's B-5. This coin is not B-5; the star touches the beak at the wrong spot, and the leaf points to the I in AMERICA at the wrong spot. Those are conclusive pickups (so conclusive I stopped with just them), and this coin cannot be real.
Oh, yeah, just so you don't think I'm "brilliant," here's my secret for Early Dollars: http://www.earlydollars.org/wizardhome.htm
Hope it turns out to be real for you,shows us all to be careful when getting a large bunch of "goodies" inspect them all!
That looks like a Chinese fake to me, the reverse shows what I call "Beijing Mint Frost." The obverse hair details look very crude, like from a well used transfer die. My opinion fwiw
Well, it's already been conclusively proven that it can't be real, in addition to the plain physical features like "wear" mismatches (if this part is that worn, this part should show more wear than it does). I've the feeling it's a relatively recent Chinese production.