I'm considering buying this Dollar. It looks too good to pass up, but that has me wondering - is it really too good? The kicker is that it's from Spain, a notorious source of counterfeits. I can't see any obvious signs that it's not real but i'm also not an expert on the series. What should I be looking for? All opinions welcome.
I don't see anything wrong with it at first glance. Looks like maybe AU50 or so. There also seems to be a die crack on the reverse between the D and S in UNITED STATES. That, combined with the lack of casting bubbles, would indicate it's likely a die struck coin, at least.
I'm tempted to leave this to an expert in the series, but at first glance I would absolutely leave this one be. For what it's worth - I'm no expert - but the fields were the first thing to bother me. Why such relatively deep nicks overall. Then I noticed the line coming up from the olive. Perhaps that's a die marker for a known variety, but it doesn't look right to me. The I noticed the "worm indentations" coming from the clasp on Liberty's shoulder. I suppose it could be a very poor planchet, but ... Everything about this coin yells run away. I believe it's a high quality fake. But I defer to the experts. I'm very interested to learn from them and what they say! The rims look gritty, too. And the denticles lack sharpness at 5 to 6 o'clock on the obverse. And the B looks wrong in Liberty. Yeah, unless the seller was an absolute expert or I had a good trusted colleague who knew a lot more about these than I do, I would pay no more than a few bucks for it, just to have as a learning tool. Again, very interested to hear what the real experts say!
I believe the angle of the photo and use of light is meant to hide a harsh cleaning and/or dipping to oblivion.
I should have added that the seller deals in coins, mostly European and medeivals. He also has 4000+ sales and a 100% approval rating. That's the good part. The things that worry me are the location (Spain, land of counterfeits) and that it's being offered at 1/3 retail price (perhaps he doesn't sell much American to his European customers).
I would pass. IMO if I were to buy a seated dollar it would be slabbed PCGS or NGC, 1 you will know it's authentic and 2 if you're gonna spend good money on a coin I would not buy it because it is cleaned to death. being offered at 1/3 the retail price should be a huge red flag to walk away. on a side note... my late coin dealer Jordan Allgood told me and the girl that used to work at his coin shop to buy seated dollars now back in 2000. we looked at him and laughed. we both could not afford them then and forget buying 1 now because of the prices on those went so high. I should have listened to him. hind sight.
