I also have no clue how to grade these...and the light filled scans don't help, lol. I'll say it's in the AU range somewhere.
Ding, Ding, Ding. This coin is not a genuine 1915-S Half Eagle. Here is the story: I went to a local auction that had this coin listed as a lot. I felt uncomfortable about the piece, so I didn't bid. The lot was bid on and won, but apparently by someone bidding for the auctioneer, who also sells coins on his website. For one, the shill bidding bothers me. But then I find out from a dealer friend that the auctioneer had brought the coin in and the dealer had confirmed that is was not genuine. Unfortunately, the auctioneer put the coin in his sale anyway. After the shill bidder won it (because it didn't bring strong enough money for the auctioneer), I saw the coin added to the auctioneer's coin website. This pic is straight from there, and he is asking a strong price for a piece that he has been told is fake. This is a local person that I would certainly not do business with in the future.
Right twice in the same day!?!? I must have done something wrong. Incidentally, don't you need to change you location in your avatar?
I pulled up a picture from Heritage and compared the two. Mostly, the letters and stars just did not look like the right fit to the rim or lack of rim. Also the teeth around the neck. However, my biggest clue was the way he asked the question. I am afraid that for proof, you are going to have to ask Shortgapbob.
Knowing this, are you guys still opposed to slabs? There are enough crooks out there, and we have to protect ourselves. I couldn't tell that it is a fake, esp from the pictures.
I know a guy that knows a guy (well that kind of idea) and anyways, I was told a few years back from the son of a person that owns a fairly large auction house never trust anything they say. Sometimes they get lied to about what an item is, or they just make stuff up for the auction listing. I could go into detail about specific stuff, but I dont think there's a need to, its pretty simple, its just like shopping on ebay, know what you want, do the research, ask questions, and most important, BUYER BEWARE!
In retrospect, those stars on the obv. ARE very irregular. At least it's still gold, right? I wonder if it was is a contemporary counterfeit, or a modern one. Who knows. Is the 1915-S a low enough mintage to make it worth faking? Don't have my Red Book on me, but it probably is, I guess...
I must say that sometimes its hard to describe how or why a coin is a counterfeit. Sometimes, it just looks wrong. This piece just had some things that people have pointed out that did not look right to me. The coin is real gold, and if I had to speculate, I would say that it is probably a piece made during the 1970 when a good number of counterfeits were coming out of England that were made from real gold.
tooling marks are the best method http://www.pcgs.com/articles/article1796.chtml certain areas, like by the back of the neck next to the hairline. These are hard to find sometimes and you really need the coin in hand and a good loop or scope.
