I bought a fake 1825 Cohen-1 on eBay this past March. The Seller was embarrassed to learn it was a fake and promply refunded my money (including S&H). I see this coin and it reminds me of the coin I returned...odd shaped loop in "2", date close together, letter alignment in "united" not correct, relationship of the leaves to the letters at the end of "america" not correct, center dot and berries too large. I would be interested in your thoughts pro/con. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220508787961&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT I requested some more detailed pictures from the Seller. I'll let you know what the Seller says if/when I hear back.
I recommend buying Breen's book on the subject before buying any more half cents. When I get home, I'll try to remember to look this one up. All the concerns you listed might be legitimate die-punching issues. I'll look at Breen's reference. This one doesn't scream counterfeit, but it might be. You are very astute to notice all those small variations on such a weak photo. In the meantime, that coin looks really corroded. Maybe it's just awful photography. I'm eager to hear what happens when / if you get better photos.
The 1825 in the linked auction is definitely fake. The date is actually pretty close, but the star placement by the headband is wrong, and the reverse is the reverse die of 1835 C-2.
No surprise... Conder is right on ! There are only two die marriages for 1825 - two obverse dies and a single reverse die. Neither obverse die has S7 anywhere near the headband - per Conder's observation. The bogus coin has S7 very close to the headband. One overt deal-killer on the reverse is the position of the second "S" in STATES with the top leaf; on all genuine specimens, the leaf is SPR (slightly past right). This bogus coin is more like SPC.
Thanks all! I never got anything back from the Seller. I wanted to say something to eBay, but would have felt bad had I made a mistake. I expressed my concerns to the Seller, but they obviously knew what they were doing. The leaves relative to the final "A" in America seemed to be the most obvious discrepancy...they're way off.
