The antique dealer that bought that one felt he struck gold. It happened once for him with a 3-legged Buffalo. However, I think that event got the better of him on this purchase. Aside from looking fake, I pointed out the primary diagnostic was missing. While this looks like a fake under limited magnification, in hand it might look passable for many collectors. I offered to buy it from him for a fraction of what he paid for it. He declined.
Well in the photo, yes you are right. Up close obviously fake. But yes, it were me to stumble on to it, I would have thought it was the real thing. Bless his heart. Maybe he is holding onto it for a reason.
He held onto it for a couple of reasons. He had too much invested and can’t legally sell it. Even selling it privately could be problematic.
The main thing is it doesn't look like this. You can find fakes on a few foreign suppliers, but most are the very common Die deterioration which may just have a slight effect towards the perimeters, but the extra material is usually very low, more so than any true DD. The biggest concern for those who have not looked at many DDO on the various professional graders forums like PCGS, you will find many coins on ETSY, Ebay, etc. I do not know how many are Cheaters/liars or just unwanting to learn over time. Jim
I understand. And as Kevin said above that person had gotten scammed. I’m not buying. Just simply posted some wheats I got from a roll and a 55 from my hubby’s pocket change. I do look at sites, PCGS etc. Varieties etc. Thanks again! Pam
My advice here is that for any key coin of interest that you have, you learn the markers for those coins so that you can ascertain if what you have in front of you is real or fake. Some fakes are pretty good, so going three or four markers deep might be necessary. 1909 S VDB - finding the proper placement for the 4 mint mark positions and the spacing of the dots on V.D.B. 1955 DDO - finding the light projecting grove on the left bar on the T in CENT. If you look at the specimen above, you'll see it's missing. Also, while a specimen might look correct without magnification, light magnification under a lighted loop lamp brings it to bear. Also, the unnatural toning on this specimen should throw up caution flags. By examining the actual doubling, you should be able to make out primary/secondary impressions. On the specimen I posted, there are not typical witness marks to consider; they are in the same plain. And, if you look closely at the surface, you'll find that a coin may not be coined but rather...cast. This is a cast specimen, so you can find porosity in the field and in the details. A non-normal condition for a coined object, unless corrosion has set in. This specimen is corrosion free. Unfortunately for the shop owner, he was taken by a catchy story and failing eyesight. He also recalled his good fortune catching that 3-legged Buffalo and thought it was happening again. He set it aside and when I came in, went to the safe to have me give it a look. He was aware that he could have been taken advantage of. He paid about $250 for that coin, which had it been real, would have been 10X the investment. But it was too good to be true. He was disappointed, but not upset (his wife was the one upset as she told him not to buy it).
