I've just pulled a couple coins out of storage. One, an 1893 Two and a Half Dollar Liberty and noticed what I call 'crackling'. It is on the obverse and reverse. Help an old man out on this with all the expertise I can get here, thank you.
I haven't seen this before, but my initial thought is that *maybe* this coin was plated? Certainly curious to see what more experienced folks here think..
Unless my eyes deceive me, the obverse cracks appear to have significant depth to them. If that's the case, I question the coin's authenticity.
This came from a group of the same year collection but sold as 'piece out', at an auction a while back.
For it to crack like that it makes me think the coin is not genuine. I've never seen a gold coin look anything like that. Was it plated? Is it even gold?
This is very concerning, it was purchased from a well known auction house several years ago. So how many possible fakes are really out there then ?
Can you weigh it? Or in lieu of that, take it out of the holder and drop it on the table so see what sound it makes? The cracking looks a lot like what old pot metal does, and a coin made of plated pot metal wouldn't sound metallic at all. The entire surface looking off (even for a cleaned coin), plus that wart on liberty's jaw and the lump on the rim at 5:00, raise further suspicion in my opinion. Interested to see what you find out.
That's very interesting. Could it be a form of lamination? There could have been dirt or something that got mixed in with the metal used for the coin. Then, maybe when it was minted, the dirt caused the cracks. But probably no. Just throwing ideas out there. Maybe @paddyman98 will know what it is.
Normal weight of the coin is 4.18 grams, my scale has this coin at 4 grams but it is not exact to the hundredths.
