Contemporary Counterfeit Half Eagle

Hard to tell, but there may be some other stuff going on, as well.
Is that an S before the A in America?
Triple leaves by TE in United?

Diameter is too small and weight too low to be a half cent planchet.

 

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Intersecting piece. This is not my area of expertise, but I think this could very well be a contemporary counterfeit.

Do you have any friends with a handheld XRF to get a surface composition? I don't know if this would help determine if it was a CC, but the data would be interesting

 

The person to ask about this is Dave Wnuck. He usually has a few cool contemporary counterfeits like this in his inventory.

 

What are the size and weight comparisons between the 1846 half eagle and 1846 large cent?
Half eagle diameter 21.6 mm weight 8.36 grams
Large cent diameter 28.5 mm weight 10.89 grams
I think that rules out wrong planchet. They weren't making nickels then which is close to the listed weight. If it was all copper, shouldn't it be heavier then 4.76 grams?
Cool fake.

 

1846 Half Cent was:
23 millimeters
5.44 grams

Still not a match, though.

 

Depends on what the thickness on the blank was. Thickness of a modern cent it would be 3.86 grams. Thickness of a modern nickel it would be 5.11 grams. I think a half eagle probably had a thickness somewhere between those so the weight seems about right for copper.

Plus the half cents were proof only that year, not likely to be struck on a cut down proof half cent planchet.

 

I thought it was a large cent obverse (my mistake) and a $5 reverse. Let me look at the half cents. The designs on the 2 coins are the same (similar).
The half cent weight and dimensions are much closer.
So they didn't strike any circulation halfies from 36-48. That's very interesting.
But as for the copper weight, if it's 10.9g on 28.5 mm large cent,
4.76g/ 21 mm still seems light even if it's a little thinner.

 

I think after I have looked at this coin a little harder, im pretty much convinced it is a contemporary counterfeit. Uneven wear in the central areas of the coin to appear circulated. The strike is weak or inconsistent along the denticles. And I think it is of some sort of poor quality copper/brass and zinc alloy which could explain the thin layer of metal peel on the reverse. Sort of a lamination that fell off after some time.

It is my opinion that it was struck by dies made from an authentic 1846 large date half eagle.

I guess my next step would be to try and research counterfeiters from the time period known for counterfeiting gold... Hard part is, there arent exactly many contemporary counterfeit gold pieces to be found online.

Im still open to opinions and would be glad to post any other pictures that I can.