My 1808 Half Cent

Here is some pictures of my 1808 half cent.

 

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Nice coin! Did you recently acquire it?

 

Had it for 30 years, forgot what I paid for it.

 

Very nice looking.

 

That's an perfect candidate for a high quality Dansco collection.

 

It is fake. The second 8 is in the wrong position (shows no 8/7, and does not touch the base of the bust), I see remnants of a spiked chin, and the reverse is that used on the 1804 C-6 half cent. The dies for this class of fake half cents were make from die transfers of a VF/EF 1804 C-6 half cent.

 

These fakes have only been made in the last 10 or so years. I’ll let the members deduce what that means.

Look familiar?

 

Here’s a little tidbit. The last “8” in the date was made by punching two small zeros on top of each other. This once more desmonstates the early mint practice of making dies with all but the last digit of the date on them. The 1808 half cent is a slightly better date in the series and is hard to find in high grade. It was the last of the Draped Bust design coinage.

There are two overdate varieties. The "8" that covers the orginal "7" is the same size as the other digits in the date. One is somewhat scarce but obtainable. The other has the same obverse, but a sloppily made reverse. That reverse quickly failed creating a rare die variety.

 

Definitely a counterfeit. @TypeCoin971793 is right.

 

I had my suspicions when I looked at the last “8” in the date, but didn’t want to say anything until I was sure.

 

Looks like I've been had, too late to get a refund since the coin dealer had passed away a few years back.

 

Good catch. Out of curiosity, I compared the reverse to those of the three die marriages and found that the positions of the leaves relative to the letters do not match any of the known die marriages. This is most easily seen with the D in ”United” and the leaves near it.

 

He may not have known, if it wasn't his specialty. Just promise us we won't see it on eBay tonight...

 

I had it for this long so there is no point selling it now.

 

That’s my go-to diagnostic

 

At first glance it looked to me like the bust was shifted too far to the right. Off center. And the date looked shifted too. That was my first suspicion but was hesitant to say anything until the experts spoke up.

 

Try the leaves at the ends of the wreath as well. On both of the 1808 reverses (three varieties but only two rev dies) the gap between the ends of the wreath is centered below the serif of the E. On the OP coin the gap is centered below the serif of the S.