No one likes to admit they got swindled, but it happens. In 2005, I bought a raw 1872-S Seated Liberty Dollar on eBay. I knew nothing about the series (first mistake), but decided to buy it anyway. It was a steal at $170! Edit: Well, this is embarassing. I called this a fake because I mistakenly compared it's MM to the 1872-S Half Dollar, but I'm still suspicious. I would be interested what someone familiar with this series thinks about it...thanks!
I liked your post very much, but I didn't want to hijack it. Since it seemed like there were a lot of posts about counterfeits, I thought it would be interesting to see them together.
Good question! For one these coins were never made in full silver. They were basically silver plated with a thin outer wash. This coin exhibits a silver layer that is entirely too thick for a genuine article; any comparable coin with that level of wear would have lost all or most of its silvering
I don't really understand this one. I always thought that it's a cast copy because of the pits and rough surfaces. Fast forward and some folks smarter than me believe it's actually a struck copy.
fake example And here is why your specimen is legit, look at your image of this specimen, notice the mm has been repunched. The repunch is clear, on the copy or the fake example. On your coin the mm is a repunched .
This is my fake 1916-D Merc. I have had it since the 1980's. I purchased the dime knowing the "D" was added to fill the hole in my book. My genuine 1916-D is in my safe deposit box. The perpetrator did a good job adding the mintmark except the placement is a bit too high. It appears they even carried the piece with their pocket change for a period of time to get the added mintmark to show wear. Quite a lot of effort was put into this phony.
I wonder what the mintage would be of how many dimes are in collectors homes right now with glued on MM!! Just sayin' it's gotta be one of the biggest fakes ever!! Glad to hear you were in the know, when you bought yours!
I twisted my dealers arm. He had the dime forever and had shown it to me many times. One day I had collected enough cash to buy a 42/41 dime from him to plug that expensive hole. Told him I would buy the 42/41 if he threw in the bogus 1916-D so I could plug the empty 1916-D hole in my book. I must have caught him at a weak moment because he agreed to the deal.
