Its amazing to think, how that coin could have affected the people that handled it, mabye some of the signers of the declaration had it at one point in time or another!
I'm curious to see what you think when you get the coin in hand, Doug. The obverse appears to be a split to me. The reverse is questionable, but it almost looks like discoloration - where the line passes the outer rings, it looks like the copper is solid.
Well, I received the coin on Saturday. Here are some close-ups. Do they change anyones opinion or just backup the existing opinions?
Cut from a sharp knife. Possibly someone of the period was going to make a half cent for change. They did that especially with Spanish 8 reales too bad as it has exceptionally nice surfaces for one
The close ups really helped. A cutting tool has a beveled edge and the edge view of the coin shows this plainly.
Thanks, everyone. I'm returning the coin to the eBay seller. Do you all think it is reasonable to ask him to cover the return shipping since it was not as described?
If you do not ask, you will not receive. Because of the edge not split through and the bevels of the split, i totally agree that they are cut marks.
That depends on how it was described. Any photo is also part of the description, too, since you posted the seller's photo in order to get our opinions without seeing the coin in hand, and expected us to be able to come to a buy/no buy decision based on them, then you really have no grounds for sticking the seller with return shipping. Doing so will probably also get you blocked. Pay the return shipping, do an amicable return, and move on. I don't know my Fugio die varieties, so if you happened to get a particularly rare one, the cut may not matter. Since @jester3681 probably would have mentioned it, however, I assume that this is not the case.
The Fugio is a late state 8-X, fairly common. A Bank of New York coin. Examples are plentiful - I was actually looking at this item when Doug reached out to me. I was seriously considering buying - the seller describes it as a split plantchet and his pictures are misleading. Not saying this is intentional or dishonest. I have a bad habit of doing most of my shopping and Cointalking on my phone, so images are small and difficult to enlarge for better viewing. Just as a learning experience for anyone interested in Fugios, the 8-X in its last two die states can *easily* be identified by the halfmoon die crack across the better part of the lower obverse. This was the terminal die state for obverse die #8. One of those identifiers that you can use, even in well worn examples. My 8-X is significantly double struck, but this identifier allows concrete identification, even though part of the second strike and poor planchet quality mask much of the lower obverse:
I returned it back in July. Then just now, I saw it listed by another seller on eBay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/282291625505 First time I've experience seeing a coin that I returned put up for sale by someone other than the original seller.
Yeah, I saw that. Wasn't going to point it out. Thanks for the heads-up, though. Edit: I pointed him to this thread. I suggested he return it if he still can. I even offered to buy the coin, but at a problem-coin price.
Yes it is amazing how things travel around. I bought it over the counter at a coin shop near Chattanooga, TN.
