Episode 1: Genuine, Altered, or Counterfeit?

Hellow, fellow coin nerds!

My name is Joe Cronin, and I am going to be posting one coin a week every Tuesday for you to figure out if a Mint Errot is either Genuine, Altered or Counterfeit.

Please pick one of the following and say why you picked what you did. Answers will be given within 48 hours of my post.

Genuine = An error that occurred without assistance at a Mint facility or during the coin metal-making process.

Altered = A genuine Mint-issued coin that was modified to mimic a genuine error, or unintentional damage that makes the coin appear as an error.

Counterfeit = A coin that was not made at a government Mint facility and created to appear as a genuine error; usually created to scam collectors.

Here is the first one. Enjoy!

Weight: 3.09 grams

 

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Fake ( counterfeit ) .

 

Gotta say why.

 

I know, I'm lazy .
1959-D, has the memorial reverse ...

 

Definitely counterfeit but as a novelty I personally like it.

 

Next coin.

 

There are genuine mule coins though

 

yes sir, there is .
Some bring really big money ..

But this coin isn't one of them .

 

Every Tuesday...

 

Because during WW II it was prohibited from making meat transactions on Tuesday.

 

Counterfeit. See my post here:https://www.cointalk.com/threads/a-...tory-of-the-hofmann-lincoln-cent-mule.353547/

Doesn’t mean it’s not a cool piece though.

 

Counterfeit.
They didn't have any wheat reverses in 1959 and if they did, more than 1 coin would have been produced by high speed machinery.
Yes it's absolutely a good story, and the actual piece has been sold for 10's of thousands of dollars even though no grading company will certify it as genuine.
One of the most famous fakes that still carries a very high price.

 

Counterfeit. As @Michael K said.

 

This is a struck counterfeit. The obverse devices are all fuzzy and have a “floating” look to them. The rims are completely the wrong style. The reverse has so many careless die scratches that is never seen on genuine dies.

Obvious fake.

 

I thought someone already pointed out that there are no known authenticated examples of a 59D (or P) LWC? So fake...

 

Counterfeit. The Hoffman mule is usually rejected as a genuine coin for all the obvious reasons and this one should be too. Nevertheless, the Hoffman mule sold at auction last year for the opening price of about $50K. Make of that what you will.

 

I would like to point out that the 9. Has two different kinds of doubling.
One that is acceptable: has full rounding of secondary devices, split serifs and separation lines. And another that is worthless doubling, flat and shelflike, and follows only one side of the device. Honestly, IMO the surfaces of the obverse stand out like a sore thumb, not like altered surfaces but something that is only a characteristic of the dies.

 

Bogus

 

My feeling is that the forger used a real US cent copper blank/planchet. He claimed to have made the 2 dies via (spark erosion?) And even though it wasn't sent specifically to "coin experts", it was sent twice to the Treasury Dept. and came back genuine both times. Well what are they looking at? If he used a US copper cent blank, of course there's no seam. And if they test for metal composition, it's going to come back genuine.

 

This isn’t one of those. It is modern and Chinese in origin