Saw this coin on e-bay and at first glance I thought the S looked "not right" so i went to coin facts and their picture of tthe 1909 s VDB looked nothing like this one. What do the experts say. Most importantly should we (the honorable coin collecting community) drop a dime on scammers like this one in order to spear the unknowing from this wrong doing?
I can't tell one way or the other, but you are presuming the seller a scammer when it is just as likely he is simply ignorant. I would not be so quick to judge, based on what you've shown thusfar. Would you please provide a link to the auction? Take care...Mike
I auction is over but here is the link to the sale. You have to agree the "S" is not where it should be for one thing and it appears to be larger then a true S VDB. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8417868557&sspagename=ADME:B:AAQ:US:1&rd=1
Of course I could be totally wrong because for all I know there where varieties that include this one if it is genuine. This is why I'm asking for the advice of the CoinTalk pro's.
It looks fake to me for the same reasons as posted above. NEVER, EVER buy a key date coin on eBay raw unless the seller has an ironclad return policy. It seems to be getting worse than better. Not only are the vast majority of all raw coins OVER-graded, but many have been dipped, whizzed, altered, etc., JUST to sell "sight-unseen" via auction houses like eBay. Here's a real one c/o Coin Facts so you can compare. Note the placement of the mint mark: Like I said, it seems to be getting worse, than better.
That one is just to difficult to tell if it's a fake from the poor photograph. This is one of the coins that is faked so often that many experts are fooled from some of the better fakes. Even the grade of that coin is hard to figure out from that photo. I would never buy one like this unless it was in a slabbed from a TPG service.
There are 4 obverse dies that were used to make the 09 S VDBs so for MM location to be diagnostic of a fake the coin would need to be compared to all 4 of the real ones. I don't have the time to hunt through the Heritage archives right now, so I won't judge the coin based on MM location, but I agree that it appears to be an added MM. The MM is too big and the lower portion is larger than the top portion. On a genuine 09SVDB the MM has a rectangular outline and this one's is more trapezoidal. Additionally the wear on the MM is inconsistent with the wear on the date. The MM is rounded on top and the date is worn flat on top; this is indicative that the MM hasn't received as much wear as the date because it was added to the coin after the coin was well circulated. A genuine coin has similar wear on the date and mint mark. It is my opinion that the coin is altered. May the buyer beware!
As The Cave Troll said, there are four obv dies for this issue but I don't believe any of them had the mintmark that high. With the larger photo available on the auction listing I would say I am 99.999% certain it is a fake. Mintmark is too high, the mintmark style looks wrong, and it is in higher relief than the digit dates it is next too when it should be worn to the same level.
