No photo of the back, but looking at the stars, I'm thinking it's a 108 or 109 (leaning toward 108). However, is it even legit or does it look counterfeit?
I'm no expert on draped bust, but it looks pretty close to the real thing. I'm kind of wondering about the small piece of an extra star on the top, or is that a scratch? I'm also wondring why the top star to the left strikes the cap. It doesn't in mine. Looks like it's been thoroughly cleaned in the not to distant past (assuming it is genuine). Here is my not so mint one VF-30 for comparison.
I know, it just doesn't look quite right like that. No silver coin that old should look quite that shinny and clean. I doubt that coin will ever be able to acquire a nice patina after the intense cleaning it got.
Oh boy, I got the names mixed up (as someone else pointed out in another thread). It's a capped bust. Glad I started out by saying "I'm no expert."
Wow. I've been teaching coin photography for ten years, and you guys are simply beyond my level at determining cleaning from one poor photograph. I gotta go back to school.
That's not a photograph...its a scan, which always makes a coin look a thousand times worse. No way that a fair assessment can be made from that picture other than to say it looks genuine and not counterfeit.
Look at the hairlines and swirls. I certainly can see signs of a mechanical cleaning on that coin. That is very common in coins of that era, and it can definitely be detected by looking in the fields of the obverse and reverse. In this case, the marks from cleaning are extremely obvious.
Looking at the traces of patina left around the stars, this coin looked like it had a nice original golden patina. I can't believe someone thought cleaning it would make it better.
\ 109....on 108 S-13 points to center of dentil, not between. As far as cleaning is concerned I wouldn't rule one out, but by the same token, it is hard to tell anything from a bad scan. It does appear to be have been fairly recently dipped--but that is a totally different discussion.
Look at hairlines and scratches--it is a cleaned coin, and certainly NOT BU as advertised. It is most surely genuine, but more like XF45 details.
It very well may be cleaned--I merely stated that scans as a rule can't be trusted to properly represent a coin. For example My scan--which looks harshly cleaned PCGS true view of same coin As for being BU you're right, it isn't. I never even noticed that the holder claimed it was.
No, your scan doesn't look anything like the original posted coin. It doesn't make the coin look as beautiful as it is for sure. However, I would NEVER have said cleaned from your scan--no swirl marks, hairlines, or abrasions like the OP coin.
