Does this coin look legit to you?

I just saw this listing and something just doesn't look right with this half. The obverse really bothers me. What do you think?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1836-Capped...69?pt=Coins_US_Individual&hash=item51a7caac75

 

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wouldnt touch it

 

No

 

It looks to me like cast pot metal.

 

Looks like a cleaned or wiped example. It is an O-105 variety. I say its good - just messed with.

 

only took me .5 secs to know its odd

 

Humm.. it took me 2 mins to look it up in two different books & confirm its variety & attributes are correct. 99.999999% of the time counterfieters do not do varieties to the point of being close enough to confirm that it is an actual variety. Even more true on the 1836 that has 23 varieties ,this being a common one .My assesment is based on fact of presented knowledge from books that were written by people who are smarter than me.

 

I'm no expert with these, but shouldn't a 'lovely AU' have a pretty sold rim?

 

That's exactly what I was going to say. I normally look at the rim for denticles that look weird. With this coin, there are few whole ones even to inspect. That being said, the seller looks legit and I am not an expert.

edit: Here is a previous forum discussion that might help? Bust Half Dollar Edge Lettering Error??

 

While no longer a collector of the series it was my main focus from 2006-2010 . Many examples do not show denticles & it is not a requirement for a coin to grade AU (not saying the OP's posted coin is or is not AU) . Strength of denticles (milling) falls under the same line as weakness in the motto on reverse ribbons. Usually the culprit is lack of metal flowing into said areas . This is caused from irregular planchet thickness & while that sounds odd ,a few tenths or hundreths of a millimeter of missing or unproportioned metal can & will cause this effect in non collared screw press minted coins.
What is important on the above posted coin is the denticle at 12 o'clock. It is wide & open to the rim .That among many other PUPS is a die marker for this variety.

 

If it has obverse and reverse diagnostics of a known variety I am inclined to agree it's probably real. It's the same way with large cents, most counterfeiters have a single master obverse and reverse hub, often not from the same coin. All they do is change the date, so it's not uncommon to have a whole run 1831, 1832, 1833, etc. with one obverse variety from one year (say 1831n3), paired with a reverse die from a different variety (say 1827n1).

Single best method I have found to spot fakes, know your die varieties as they are almost never faked correctly.

 

No bids yet. I think I'd put a bid in there and see if you pick it up cheap.

 

If you have to ask......

 

14 day money back - so all you would lose is shipping if it was indeed a fake - and you might not even have to pay that if you contact the seller

 

Thank you all for your input. I'm going to pass on this one.

 

Nope.

 

I concur. So many other coins with no issues to spend that $199.00 on.

 

Genuine, but pretty badly cleaned I think. Personally I wouldn't go for it, but I'm sure that it's not fake at least.

 

its a fake
or im donald trump

 

Yep, that does sound like something Donald Trump would say .Nice to meet you Don-