This 1896 O Morgan is up for bid in a local estate sale. It looks to me like silver plating is peeling off a base metal. Opinions?
Based on what I see it looks fake. I'm looking around the rims on both the obverse and reverse and as you said it looks like a base metal coin with a silver wash. Have you weighed it and measured it with calipers? Also have you done the magnet test? Silver has a different weight than base metals and so if the coin isn't 90% silver it will either be underweight or the size will be larger and it will be the correct weight but oversized. Often bad fakes can be identified with simple tests like those. However it's true that some of the higher quality counterfeits will pass those tests but it doesn't mean you shouldn't try. I am not an expert by any means though so I would recommend waiting for members with more experience than me to pitch in.
Looks fake to me based on you photos. Way to shiny for it to show but that much wear. Even considering a weak strike it’s too smooth. Look at the eagles feathers, wreath and Liberty’s hair.
Fake as hell. One way to tell is the points on the stars on the obverse. If they are mushy as they are on your coin, it's a dead giveaway. The other features are mushy and not sharp as well, and that's not due to wear. That's in addition to your observations...stay away. The date is the WRONG FONT. The numbers are too wide. FAKE FAKE FAKE. Compare the font of the date compared to this real coin.
Sure looks like a plating is peeling. It is so obvious that I hope someone doesn't pay anything for it.
As stated the coin is up for auction. I do not have the coin in hand. Also I never had any intension to bid on it. I want to contact and advise the auction house, but I wanted opinions first.
One question to ask, is this a reputable auction house that is familiar with numismatics? Something this obvious would SHOULD cause them to pause and re-examine this coin. My new concern is: are they selling other coins as authentic?
Thank you everyone. I spoke to an auction house representative who is going to forward my (our) concerns to the auctioneer. When I asked the woman to focus on the top of the rim she called out the plating peeling before I could point out the specific defect. I also shared everyones' comments. I will be watching to see if they pull the lot. Nice work Coin Talker's!
Sounds pretty shady to me I would expect a reputable auctioneer's staff to pull something like that ASAP no conversation about it. keep us updated! Thanks -OSD
