1833 Half Cent

This coin is in my possession. These are my pictures

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

I think this guy should be tagged to give input .. @Jack D. Young

Love the beauty of the coin, either way.

 

I was thinking the same thing...

 

It's a fake, guys.

 

Yes, this coin is a fake, purchased for $2 from China. My initial impression was that they got the style almost right, making it the best cheap Chinese fake I have seen. Some issues I saw:

1. The coin felt really light
2. It was struck in a collar. Were proofs struck in a collar? I know 1830s proof half dollars were struck in a collar.
3. The dentils on the obverse were a bit toothy and detached
4. The stars were too sharp
5. The reverse felt wrong
6. The date numerals seemed a bit irregular

Here is a picture of a genuine proof:

Yes, only one die pair for the year, for both proofs and business strikes. And you are correct.

Good eye! I did not initially notice that.

I might have fooled me too if I was not careful.

As stated, there was only one die pair this year.

The reverse looks wrong to me too. It lacks the crispness that genuine coins have. Being from a die from a different year is conclusive in itself.

I really have no idea. Maybe donate it to @Jack D. Young for his dark side collection. I certainly would not sell it.

There is something off about it, isn’t there?

 

Thanks for the tags! I had the benefit of seeing it on another site this morning.

 

It is an impressive piece, Die stage characteristics match that of a stage II proof except for one major thing, the missing detail in the hair curls below the ear. It looks like the result of overpolishing of the die. But those details are there on later die stages of the 1833 C-1. I suspect they used a very nice high grade later stage C-1 to make their obv die then overpolished it removing most of the die carck through the left hand stars making it resemble a Stage II which only comes on proofs. the polishing also removed detail in the center of the die below the ear.

It is still scary good.

 

What I used as marker was a comparison of the the relative placement of the outer star points relative to the most immediate dentils.
In this 'coin' many stars points are wrongly positioned relative to the closest dentils.

 

I hate trying to use the star point dentil relationships because pictures in the references frequently aren't good enough to really see them. But you are correct, I checked out just stars 1-7 and at least half of them don't match up.

 

The other detail difference that stands out is the bottom of the B in LIBERTY is complete on the counterfeit. I'm guessing they thought it was a strike issue on the example they used to make the obverse die.

 

A current ali special:

 

Jeez..... Man I was suckered right into this one. I’ll not be purchasing any copper not authenticated until my copper skills improve dramatically.

 

The only thing that flagged me was the color.
And that the details were just too sharp. You never see half cents in this shape.
(I don't anyway.) They are always worn and dark brown.
Good fake because the date is exactly right. So they made a die from an existing coin? It's highly unlikely that they could have engraved that date correctly by hand.

 

Yes, the most deceptive counterfeits we know of are "coined" from dies made from authentic coins. Not wanting to pirate this post, the 2 I have posted here are known fakes:

 

Scary

 

I just bought this one and am treating it with VerdiCare, will post "after" pictures...


The dark area was VERY green