This one has been making the rounds. Owner states his father purchased it years ago from a major auction house and now he (the seller) has become unemployed and is looking for a quick sale- told me it sold for over 70K in the past and was interested in my offer. I obviously didn’t make an offer and he listed it on eBay this morning. Already ended it after I explained what made it such a poorly executed fake AND holder. Images include his jewel, the genuine example and the PCGS on-line cert info. Pretty easy to see the issues! Best, Jack
Seller's response to my note: "Okay, I'll remove until further legitimacy can be performed, but I'm confident in its provenance"…
I don't think that a REAL 1856 Flyer in MS-65 has sold to anyone for $70k. I've never own one, so I could be wrong, but that price seems way too high. I guess the Chinese don't have the right typewriter to make the labels.
Hard to see the coin through the washed out plastic of the fake holder but that doesn't even look close to what I would want for a M65.
Unfortunately there are people who know nothing more than what is written on the slab. They don’t have the expertise to question what is in the holder. They only look at the label. Some of them even have the brass to tell expert collectors and dealers that they have no business questioning the opinions of “professional graders.” Those people are “meat on the table” for unscrupulous sellers.
Not being incredibly familiar with 1856 FEs, the coin itself seems to be a pretty good fake. Can someone point out some significant markers that the coin is fake? That PCGS slab is not even close, however.
I'm wondering if the coin is real and the slab is fake. But there's no real good pics for me to decide either way. Not that I'm an expert on the FEs.
I have tried to key in on the on date. Here are the photos. Real coin, from PCGS "Coin Facts" Coin in fake slab. 1856 Diagnostic If you draw in line down from the point of the "hat" of the "5", it runs parallel to the ball of the "5." I don't think that's true for the thing in the fake slab. I don't want to tip off the counterfeits to every error they make. They are getting to be too good alread.