How to distinguish die struck counterfeit 1856 flying eagle?

So, this coin is posted honestly as a die struck counterfeit on Collector's Corner. How do we know that it is what it is? And what does it mean "die struck"? genuine mint dies used by mint workers? reproduced dies? hmm? I'm new to pennies.

 

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Only 2000 were minted so it's an expensive coin, thereby it's highly counterfeited.

 

The coin in your post is not a die stuck counterfeit as I understand it. First, the date is oversized and the wrong styled digits. Second, the lettering style is not correct for an 1856. It should have a block O in OF and thinner letters overall. Thirdly, there appears to be casting roughness over the whole coin.

To me, a die struck counterfeit would be a coin made using dies from a genuine host coin. Meaning, someone created dies using a genuine 1856 flying eagle cent, then used those dies to strike fakes. This isn't the case with the coin in the pics. The coin you show is just a bad fake, sloppily and improperly made, whether it was stuck or cast.

 

These would be the best counterfeits, of course. But a "die struck counterfeit" just means it was made by a strike from a die. It doesn't mean anything about where the die came from. These die may sometimes have started as a copy of a genuine coin, but then the counterfeiter touched it up to improve the appearance; or the counterfeiter sometimes made their own dies.

"Die Struck" is just compared to some other method of manufacture, such as "cast". A cast counterfeit could also have dies copied from genuine coins, or not.

 

Die struck counterfeit just means it was struck using counterfeit dies as opposed to being cast or an altered genuine coin. Doesn't matter how the counterfeit dies were produced.

 

Here's a real one.
It's an S-3 in MS-62.

 

You are thinking of “die transfer”, which does use a genuine coin. “Die struck” just means that it was struck from dies and not cast