The denticles and the stars on the obverse have suspect wear levels, and 2 places the denticles are disturbed on the reverse. I also don’t like the reverse because it looks like it has been improperly cleaned. Gives one the impression that wear was manipulated. I gave a grade of VF35 or so, but I don’t have enough experience on counterfeit detection to nail it down with a large degree of confidence. Definitely awaiting @Pickin and Grinin or another member to elucidate why it is a fake and maybe tell me I saw some tells for sure. It’s hard for me to compare a known good with this one, I need to see it side-by-side, so maybe someone else can post something…imo…Spark
Counterfeit. The first red flag for me was the "circulation hits". Especially the one behind the ear.
I think that this should do it, All the details are wrong, size of devices are the starter. Here is the reverse. Look at 5 and 7 oclock, notice the casting bubbles that were missed when they tried to give the coin wear? Also, the dentils are all wrong.
I can't thank you enough for this Pickin'..... I am far too quick to get caught up in the beauty of a coin before I allow myself to study it.... Used to be that I could easily pick out a fake because they looked as though they were designed by a Warner Brothers cartoon artist. But these days, they are getting much more sophisticated.. I thought it didn't look quite right when Zoid posted it, but I decided rather than chime in, I would wait to see what the real numismatists had to say. I learned something today.
This one is unusually deceptive. I don't think it is cast. I have a few similar pieces that were passed off as genuine with this one. They were cut in half with a pair of bolt cutters. This particular counterfeit has a silver "skin" layered over a copper core. I believe the dies were created possible using a lost wax mold. The areas on the reverse rim that look like a small CUD or "fin" is actually the silver skin folding back upon itself. If scratch tested, the results are silver. Same if examined with one of those metal scan guns. They are non-magnetic, and they have a distinct "ring" when dropped on a hard surface, although a different tone than a genuine dollar. Where they show their true colors is they are about 1.5 grams too light, and the edge reeding was created in a cartoonish collar. Here are some photos of their section when cut in half. Here is a comparison of the reeding. Genuine on the left, fake on the right. Z
Ya know, when I was just into varieties, I found a 79CC Capped die in a pawn shop. It was lustrous, sharp strike, just gorgeous. Deep golden and AU58+ to a MS66. When I grabbed ahold of it the reeding was so sharp that I had a pause. I questioned the bulion feel to the coin. At that time we didn't have much of an internet. Nothing coin related was online. I knew the weight of a Morgan 26.73g so I asked him to weigh it. It weighed. So, I left it. Fairly hefty price of around $400. I went home and studied. Went back in in a few days and he had a micrometer. We found it was just slightly smaller in diameter, and just a tad thicker. If I knew then what I have learned now, thanks to the CT community. I would have made him an offer an took it home, because it is still the best counterfeit I have ever seen. Thank you for the kind comments Randy. I am gonna have to go cook dinner so my head doesn't explode.
