Hi, I just joined this great forum. I bought this coin from what appears to be a home less guy. Is this fake? Thanks guys.
Your reverse photo is shot at an angle which causes most of the coin to be out of focus so I cannot make out any reverse details. But I think I can safely say without a doubt that coin is a fake. By the way, welcome to CoinTalk.
It is fake in my opinion. The middle of the obverse looks weak, that is to say the dies were made improperly or it was not cast well. However, I am not an expert on draped bust coins, so anything is possible.
I will have to disagree. I do believe the coin is real and quite possibly stolen if you bought it from a homeless guy. And could be feeding a drug addiction.
Have it weighed at the coin shop. A genuine example should weigh about 26.96 g. That one looks like a Chinese counterfeit and will probably weigh in a few grams light.
I'm by no means an expert on these, but the pictures I have available all show the 1796 date to be closer to the bust and with the "1" almost touching the lower hair curl.
that seems super duper fake. Look at the coin that davidh posted next to the op's. I hope not a lot was spent on it
I agree, fake. Look how far the "U" and the "A" is from the twigs between the ribbon on the reverse in comparison to the genuine example. Surfaces look funny to me as well.
Everyone comparing the photos of the coin in question to the one posted by DavidH is assuming there was only one die pair for that year. I don't know how many there were, one is certainly a possibility. Everything was hand-punched that far back (when it wasn't hand-engraved into the die) and significant positional differences between dies wasn't exceptional, it was the norm. That said, the coin is almost certainly a phony. Still, I've certainly seen worse ones.
A couple years ago there was a flurry of coins like these being sold in Calf. by "homeless guys" on the street corners. Guess they are still at it. But this is the first I have heard of in a while.
I posted the picture I did because it was the clearest one I could find. Of the dozen or so I didn't post, none had the date-to-curl separation the OP's shows. I think there are 6 varities of die combinations. Here are a few (with apologies to those from whom I borrowed the photos): Here's a link to a story about the "Homeless Dollars" http://forums.theledger.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/4121079265/m/1981076575
Oops, my bad. Here's the correct link (also edited in my post) http://forums.theledger.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/4121079265/m/1981076575
It's apparent it was struck in a collar (sharp rim, dentils don't extend to rim) which I think is the easiest way to tell it's fake,
