Question, pulled a 1796 half cent with pole out of a bag of coins. Not convinced it is real everything i looked at said weight should be 5.44 grams and 23.50 diameter. This coin is 4.7 grams and 23.55 diameter. Any thoughts or help with this would be greatly appreciated thanks.
My initial feeling is that it's probably fake, just based on the weight. No amount of wear can reduce the weight of a coin by 10% without leaving a slug. Pictures would help.
Considering a 96 half cent would be a five figure coin usually, the chance of it being real is extremely small.
here are images i took with my phone. If u need higher resolution pics let me know and i will try to take better ones.
It's really rough but I can't see anything glaringly wrong. But I'm not an expert in these and I don't have any of my references with me hopefully someone who knows these better than me will chime in
The weight bugs me more than anything else. One possibility is that this is a GMM reproduction that has been worked to obscure the COPY stamp and then artificially corroded to obscure the work.
The alignment of the date looks right with the 9 low. Letters in Liberty look slightly small tho. Could be due to angle or corrosion. Positioning in comparison to the bust looks ok.
Comparing to other known examples it's got a chance. There's only one set of dies for this one. They also struck them on cut down large cent planchets the early coins could have some weight discrepancy especially copper
It looks good enough to me that I'd at least show it to an early American copper specialist, if not send it in for certification.
The variety details are right for the 96 with pole. I don't know where the gallery mint punched COPY on these (and they were consistent with the placement) but there looks like an unusual concentration of damage above the world HALF compared to the rest of the coin.
IMO, not a Gallery Mint product (I collect them) as their punch goes deeply into the design and is higher into the wreath. So, probably a fake due to weight and the "corroded surface" looks "artificial." Sorry I am unable to put this into words, you just need to see a lot of corroded coins.
