1877 Indian Head Cent #2 Fake Vs Real

I'm not sure you will get a definitive answer here, just a lot of people agreeing with your suspicion that something doesn't seem right. If you are really uncomfortable with this coin then go ahead and open a case on ebay. First check and see if he has a policy of accepting returns if you simply aren't satisfied. That would make it very easy. If not then bring up the issues that have been discussed here as evidence that it may be altered or counterfeit. Just realize that win or lose you are likely to be blocked by that seller, so you probably won't be able to buy from him in the future.

You could try submitting it to ANACs which will give you the lowest price, probably about $40 to submit just one coin.

I wouldn't touch it. Return it.

Send it back while you can and look for a better example.

If anything when the seller relists it you may get it for a lower price if you really ant to take a gamble as I'm sure he wouldn't let you return it a second time.

The style of the date and the characteristic shallow N's appear to match the diagnostics of genuine examples but I do agree with others the discrepancy between the grades of the obverse and reverse is strange. The ones I have seen in low grades do seem to have a stronger reverse than obverse but not this great. One thing about the reverse that I noticed is there seems to be brighter patches of copper on the denticles, edges of the leaves, and One Cent which may be a clue to why the reverse has so much more detail. The obverse is more or less an even brown doesn't have the same patches the reverse has. Near the rim by the ribbon, the is some piece of black gunk which I am not sure if its clue or not. My guess is there may have been some substance on the reverse, though I am not sure why only the reverse, which protected it while it circulated and was much later cleaned and retoned/recolored producing the bright patches seen. That piece of gunk that I mentioned may or may not be that substance. Just my attempt at some sort of explanation but I could be total wrong.

I agree with what Stylez said about mounting them in a ring. My father mounted two IHC cents and made a pair of cuff links (remember them?); the date being 1907 (his birth year). While the obv of these is much better than the 1877, they're also 30 years newer, and might have had much more use. He has them mounted to a round piece of metal, the same size as the coin, so I can't see any detail on the rev, but it has to be better than the obverse. These coins were also harshly cleaned.
The question was also asked; who would put a coin like that in a metallic holder? Of course 100 years ago, they were not viewed the way we see them today.

Steve: thank you for your analysis and thoughts. It seems this is your area of interest/ specialization! I'd say if you can't say there is not something definitively wrong, then I'm satisfied as I'm going to be.

I'm not going to pursue this any further now. I bought what I could afford at this point, and the price of that savings comes with a little bit of doubt!

Perhaps, in the future, a graded specimen, for a coins of similar value, would bring more piece of mind.

If it is ever sold, sending to a grading services would be helpful. If/ when it is deemed genuine, the cost of the grading would be made up in the increase in sales price, that a graded coin would bring.