ICCS Graded 1914 10-Cent - Your Thoughts?

Hounddog ... I was hoping that you would get in here and comment on the 1888. You've spent years on them and their eccentricities. You stated "As far as I know there're no 1891 obv 2's with a full serif on the bottom of the "D" in "DEI". This serif broke from the punch early in the 1888 coinage.". However, in Rob's "Dies and Diadems", the Obverse photo of his O2S-L10 (the only Obv 2 die with a full left foot), the D in Dei has a semi-full serif(half of it). The mystery continues. Rob's either in Vegas, Diego, or Maine, but he'll answer my email soon I hope.

For sure, the photo of Rob's on the previous page IS NOT 1891 Obv die O2S-L10 (the full-footed N 1891 Obv 2), because that Obv die has huge D/C's all along the tops of the letters from Victoria through Regina. As you said, Bill, I think that the photo of Robs is from an 1888 with a full footed D in Dei AND a full footed N in Regina.

After many years of looking at 1891 cents, every 1891 Obverse C2, SDLL cent I have ever seen was minted by a single die pair. The obverse die (O2S-S1 in my catalog) has a broken bottom serif on the D in DEI, a broken top serif on the D in CANADA, and a broken bottom serif on the N in REGINA. It also usually shows faint die cracks at the C and D of CANADA. Obviously this die did not mint the 1891 cent posted by TCH.

The obverse die used to mint TCH's coin resembles those from a die grouping I labeled O2R in my catalog. Dies from this grouping have a broken bottom serif on the D in DEI, but intact top serifs on the D in CANADA and intact bottom serifs on the N in REGINA. I found 1888 and 1892 cents minted by die from this grouping, but none dated 1891. TCH's coin also has some sort of lump near the I in DEI, which I don't recall seeing before.

Similarly, every 1891 Obverse C2, SDLL cent I have seen was minted by one reverse die (R1P-S1 in my catalog). This die exhibits a wide gap between the 8 and 9, with the 91 slightly lower than the 18, and the 1 tilted slightly to the left. It also has a die crack near Leaf #14.

The reverse of TCH's coin looks very close to this. I think I see a faint die crack in the correct spot near Leaf #14. The date spacing looks close. What troubles me here is the lack of tilt on the last 1 of the date. An extended line along the right edge of the 1 should hit the E in ONE near the base of the middle crossbar. On TCH's coin, it hits near the outer end of that crossbar.

I see two possibilities for TCH's 1891:

1. His coin is genuine and minted by a previously unknown obverse die (and perhaps a previously unknown reverse die). This certainly is possible. After nearly fifteen years of close study, I occasionally still find a new 1858 cent die.

2. The coin is counterfeit, probably created by some sort of 3-D scanning process of real Victorian cents. Perhaps he scanned an 1888 cent obverse and an 1891 SDLL reverse, using high AU or lower mint state coins to get the finer details to show. Use the scan to make dies, perhaps making corrections to the final 1 of the date to correct a weak digit. Then stamp a new planchet with those dies and, voila, a very rare red SDLL cent. Alternatively, what if he scanned an 1888 reverse and digitally added an SDLL date to the scan before making the dies?

Although either is possible, I think the coin is counterfeit, given the e-bay source and the inconsistencies I have mentioned above. It would be interesting to do an XRF to see if the coin is near the 95/4/1 alloy. This alloy isn't very common these days, so it is unlikely a new planchet would match it.

Given access to a state of the art machine shop, or even an orthodontics office, I think high quality fakes are possible through 3-D scanning. I also think we will see more of them in the future.

Maybe somebody pointed it out already, but the one neutral and two negatives given to the e-bay seller were all given for fake coins.

Yes Rob it was noticed...But not all of the seller's coins are counterfeit...Actually most are not and that's what makes it more dangerous...

How do you get that information Pacific?

AG...Click on the list of items the seller has for sale. The check the mark on the right "Items Sold". No different thatn if you were too look for sold items by all sellers.

I'm more of a collector of world coins, I'm quite shaken, the worlds are equally as good as the cdn and there's a lot

This is the Chinese seller selling same sort of canadian strikes and worlds, mentioned earlier, people should know what's out there
222276160989

Take a look through solds if you like worlds.

Good call on the 22, absolutely right Pacific.