Different opinions from three TPGs- what did they miss II?

In my previous post about the 1872-S slabbed half dollars I asked the same question...

The answer developed through participation by other Members here but I felt some of the participants new to the deceptive struck counterfeits were frustrated in how long the story took to developed so I will pose the same question here but include my answers in the OP!

So, that being said, here are various "certified" examples of the same "variety"...













The 1st example caused a stir in the EAC community! Possibly a new undiscovered variety, the obverse had a longer "Y" in LIBERTY than any known variety of 1798 (although most of the obverse matched S-158 & S-159), and the reverse matched S-158 EXCEPT the die state was unknown! S-158 is known with a perfect (uncracked) reverse, but when the crack at the "T" of UNITED is present it runs through the wreath through "T" of STATES to the rim. So this was possibly a unique non-collectible variety...






So, the answer to the question posed is all are struck fakes, including the "VARIETYPLUS" example.




I have reached my limit of 10 images and will continue in the 2nd post below!

 

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This is a good time to show my process for identifying counterfeits; the process starts with identifying the variety and includes looking for similar examples:



So, from the "discovery" example we found several more on the same internet venue with the same diagnostics, but the alarming part was they also had the same circulation (we call them "sister marks") marks, which just shouldn't be...

The diagnostics can be seen in my 1-page attribution including the matching corrosion "crater" on the bust:



And we found the possible repaired source coin at the top of the "family":



My Coin Week article can be found at: https://coinweek.com/counterfeits/s...98-s-158-large-cent-1-page-attribution-guide/

Best, Jack

 

Great thread, very informative! Most of the counterfeit cents mentioned in the coin week article were sold 5-10 years ago. Are “S-158” fakes still commonly seen at recent auctions?

 

Thank you; no, have not seen another in the past 2-years. We have seen several of the other varieties/ denominations linked to the S-158 through known sellers as recent as a few months ago though.

 

The real danger is that if there is someone or some group out there good enough to make these fakes and get them into the TPG slabs, what might they be making now that we have not discovered yet?

 

I love this article. I laugh when I think of having "found" a new variety after looking at Jack's Icon. I was a little late to the party concerning the S-158 fakes.

My new concern is the large number of low grade rarities which are suddenly on the market. Initially I thought it was from a closer examination of low grade early copper and a wider appreciation of variety attribution. But now I'm not so sure.

I wonder now if it might be just extra artificial aging and damage to hide the sister marks of the fakes.