1806 Half Cent C-1, Small 6, No Stems. XF-45 by NGC, but it is a fake. Believe it or not, fakes that get certified are very collectible and people will pay big money for them. This makes a cool edition to my collection and a nice conversation / educational piece.
I know this fake well, and I can confirm it isn’t authentic, assuming it isn’t the “host” coin. Considering that it isn’t in their possession, not yet.
S eems like fakes that are certified or not are about worthless unless they are famous ones like Henning or Becker etc
The unscrupulous Chinese will counterfeit anything you can fathom. I've seen everything from "replica" common-date Morgan dollars made out of 90% silver to 1958 wheat cents made available and put on the market directly from China. And often these coins will be initially sold bright and shiny but stateside buyers with the likely intention to deceive will age and wear them using a variety of methods. From there they can make their way to unsuspecting dealers and TPG's. This is quite likely what happened with the OP's coin.
Here is a great article about this coin by counterfeit expert, @Jack D. Young https://coinweek.com/counterfeits/s...-1806-c-1-half-cent-1-page-attribution-guide/
That counterfeit 1806 C-1 half cent is scary. I had one similar to that piece in my die variety set about 30 years ago. It doesn't have the usual "I am screeming bad" Chinese style fake toning.
I have written 2 additional articles on these in EAC's Penny-Wise including metallurgical testing results and found the probable source coin in an ANACS slab.