Is this real? Calling all Lincoln experts!

Yes, well I appreciate your input.
I don't see the lines under a magnifying glass, so I think they're just from the JPEG. I know a dealer in town who said he'd take a look at it for me. I'll let you know what happens. Thankfully, I can return it so I'll only be out shipping (hopefully) if it is a fake.
He told me silver fakes (specifically 1916-D mercs) are the hardest to tell because one can wear down his/her handiwork.
To quote him: "You can work miracles with silver..."

 

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You can lead a horse to water...

1. How do you know that the dealer "seems to be reputable?" Is this a dealer you know from going to shows or reading magazines or from visiting their shop?

2. We journalists say that the truth is the first casualty in any war. On eBay, the first lie that fakers tell is their feedback rating. Feedback ratings mean nothing. That is why you need to know the dealer from some other venue such as shows or a shop or by their ANA or PNG membership, etc.

3. Why are you doing your homework after the test? The time to ask these questions is before you buy.

4. We numismatists say, "Buy the book before you buy the coin." Which grading guide (anti-counterfeiting book) did you buy before you threw down the hard cash for this coin?

5. How many of these coins did you examine in person before buying this one?

Please understand the frustration here. We go all out helping new collectors and no matter how hard we work, someone comes along who... well... never mind...

 

AJM - I believe you are thinking of 'Numismatic Forgery'. My wife and kids got me a copy of this book for my birthday last month. I thought it was interesting, but more as an overall understanding of the different processes that have been developed to fake a coin.

If some of these people put their minds to better use, they could make a lot of money in a legal avenue...

 

This can be true for altering a coin. Wear is often used to hide coin alterations.

 

Be nice.... There's no reason to attack the guy. There's also no reason for you to be frustrated. WE all know that Ebay isn't always the most reputable place to shop, and I feel it is our job to educate, not blow up at somebody. We've all made this kind of mistake at some point, where we forget about our research to make the good deal. I've done it, and every one of my friends who I collect with has done it.

His information is good though. Do your research before you buy, and if a deal looks too good to be true, it probably is.

~AJ

 

Yeah, that's the one! I thought it was interesting, and it helped me to understand how forgeries are made, so that they can be better detected. Once you know the "how to do it" part, the "how to detect it" part gets easier!

Thanks for finding that for me!

~AJ

 

If you're still looking for feedback from us, try rescanning the images at a higher dpi and then save them in a lossless format like PNG. That will ensure that there are no compression artifacts in the image.

 

Mike,

Must be nice to know everything there is to know and never having to ask anyone advice. Sitting in front of a computer screen straightening out the unenlightened must be exasperating. I really feel for you, man.

In response to your post, I bought the coin because it looked real (I had no idea there were that many fakes around) and also because it was on eBay and it was a good amount cheaper than I could find anywhere else (including around here in Indiana).

The seller I bought it from had good feedback, a shop on the East Coast (so I couldn’t visit except online), an ANA membership and a good return policy. So when buying I felt confident that if it wasn’t real I could return it.

Anyway, now I know for sure it’s real. I took it in to my dealer today in town and he put it under a loupe and said it was genuine.

 

I can see those same linesd on the origanal Pic.

 

JMH2283

I would get that coin sent off for grading...not all dealers know alot of how to tell and such...so just to be safe send it to NGC/PCGS/ANACS and see what they say...

My dealer told be today that he would be getting a S VDB in soon...and maybe I would want it...I'm thinking about it but if its raw I'm going to tell him to have it graded and then I will buy the coin plus pay for the grading cost...in other words..even if the guy has a shop and is an ANA member and has good feed back...that means nothing...so I would suggest that you get this slabbed and you buy key dates like this already slabbed!

Speedy

 

By the way does anyone know any more tips for detecting counterfit 14-D's?

 

if it has george washington on the obverse - dead giveaway that it's probably not real.

 

The large picture GDJMSP posted was a digital zoom-in of the mint-mark region of the original picture, so it had the same artifact that the original image had, In fact, most resampling algorithms by nature tend to exaggerate those sort of features anyway.

As for 1914-D's, I don't have nearly the wealth of knowledge as other people on this board, but one of the more common forgeries is to remove a bit of the first 4 of a 1944-D. Here's a picture:



This one's easy to detect; look for wide spacing between the 9 and 1, and the mint mark is somewhat different from a genuine 1914-D.

Here's an article with a few more details:
http://www.coinresource.com/articles/altered_coins_risk.htm

 

I read just today that most 1914-d fakes are made from 1924-D 1934-D 1944-D...most of the time its the spacing by the 9-14...also you can add a mintmark.

The best way to make sure its real is to get it graded and make sure you learn about them BEFORE you buy them.

Speedy

 

How about if Lincoln is on the reverse and the wheat is on the obverse ? Phony for sure !

 

Mea culpa

I apologize. Many of us come on stronger online than in real life and I am certainly no exception. (At least my username is not Doktor Deth.) So, yes, I could have said all of that better. My concern was for your welfare.

Michael

 

The comment about the sunken area around the S confimed my suspicion. I think someone formed the S by digging into the field and creating one that way, by removing metal.

 

Here is a picture of a real one for comparison.

 

I'm not sure with this picture, but the mint mark is not right at the bottom loop of the S it is not concentric with the rest of the S. This one has a larger bottom loop which is not consistence with most mint mark of that year. But this picture can be distorted it some what. Only way to make sure is to have it graded or have it posted on the Coprehensive Web Encyclopedia of U.S. Copper Coinage at www.coppercoins.com Sorry about that try it now.

 

Close-up of mint mark.

PS www.coppercoin.com doesn't work.