1825/4 Browning 3 Capped Bust Quarter - Lots of photos!

Awesome news and thanks for taking a second look Rick!

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Looks real to me , but I collect Bust halves . Isn't there an equivalent of an Overton book for Bust quarters with all the die marriages . Remember these are open collared struck coins . Which results in lengthening of some of the devices like the stars pointing to the edges .

 

Absolutely, here are a couple...thanks Harris!

 

Jupiter88
I'm truly not trying to poo poo your coin, The first time I looked at it I was like cool ,but admittedly I never gave it the once over till Rick said something . To me in my mind set there are two schools of thought over this piece.
One if I purchased it at a really good price,but that would concern me as well as this is a 3k coin in AU. It to my eyes been cleaned if real. Two I understand how these coins were made a screw press. I A also get that this was very early coinage and the skill level to be exact weren't always there.
Having friends who were silversmiths and jewelers I do understand the lost wax process as well as casting from a positive to a negative and producing an item from another.
On some of the other coins known to be real looking at the feathers I'm not seeing details. Maybe it was that die but that concerns me as again when casting a copy one looses detail .
I see the weight is correct, and others have posted their views. I hope it is real and there's no issues . As for me this wouldn't be a coin I personally would buy if not seen in hand,and even then maybe need to ask someone who's more familiar with this series .

 

Before being claimed a fake, some photos should be made without having a strong light source coming from 12 o'clock. Fake or not, the microscopic views show a doubled die for the 5.

 

Not a doubled die an over date and a double profile on Liberty face. The doubling on the face is MD.

 

True Rusty however look close at the devices the two coins side by side. Look at the feathers on the breast on each side of the shield. The one on the right the feathers have detail, you can see the spines . The coin on question feathers have no details. Like little globs of medal that yes from an arms length look like feathers under 10x they have no form or details.
This is why I question.... I am no expert just makes me question ,as when you cast something from the real deal you get a nice transfer of details. However let's say you made a copy in wax. Then in the mold burnt the wax out and poured the medal into the mold. What do you think would give you more details? The original or a wax copy from the original ?

 

Thanks for those photos. I think the coin is authentic. It has been at least dipped, at most improperly cleaned at some point in the last 20 or so years, I'd imagine.
All the same, I would send it in for certification. It's easily a four figure coin.

 

I don't see any evidence that it's a cast. The edge looks fine, no blebs, depressions, indentations, etc. I don't see any tool marks, either. This is definitely worth sending off for authentication, since, if it's a fake, it's at least a decent one. I'm not an expert on these, but my gut feeling is that it's real, but could be cleaned. Another possibility is that the photos just aren't showing us a good representation of what the surfaces are like, and it's throwing people off.

@Jupiter88: An overdipped coin has a lot of detail and very little luster; it's literally a lackluster coin. Since you say in hand it has good luster, I'm going to guess it hasn't been dipped to death.

 

I am not seeing anything on the coin that points me to a fake. The coin looks genuine. A few comments:

1. To those comparing photos and seeing things not line up - remember, each of the devices was punched by hand, and had quite a bit of variation. If you find two different dies, and compare the pics (as was done early in this thread), absolutely nothing will line up. That is not surprising.

2. Even when comparing coins of the same die, remember that these were struck in an open collar on a press operated by hand. There is tremendous variation between even two successive strikes. That will explain almost all of the variation you are seeing between the OP's coin and the other coins posted here.

3. @rzage The book for these was written by Browning (Hence the B-3 and B-2 designations being tossed about). A couple of years ago, a new authoritative reference was published which is now the standard (and supercedes Browning), written by Rea, Peterson, and Karoleff.

4. Finally, to the coin in the OP: it has been dipped several times, and polished. Sending it to NCS, or some professional conservator, will not restore the surfaces. The metal of the surface itself has been eaten away by the cleaning methods, and no amount of help will bring that back. Its best now to just leave it the way it is. The closeups you have provided show the characteristic look of over-dipped surfaces (and are actually quite educational, to point out what happens with too many dips).

5. Assuming it is genuine (which I am), I would grade your coin AU, Details. It is probably worth somewhere around $1500.