Please Grade My 1917 Type 1 SLQ

I am sure everyone here wants to buy coins with sharp details but this may be an instance where it may be too much of a good thing. I sorry to say that I think there a good chance that this is a struck counterfeit made from transfer dies. The give away for this counterfeit coin are the horizontal lines below In God We Trust. The lines on genuine coins, even when fully struck, are not nearly as sharp as they are on this coin. The bold lines are due to retooling the die. For those who have the book, refer to p.89 of Detecting Counterfeit and Altered U.S. Coins by J.P. Martin. If you feel like you need to be absolutely certain, you could send it to a TPG for another opinion.

with D0ubl3Eagle something about this coin just doesn't sit right with me, it looks okay in the basic design but the horizontal lines are not quite what other 1917 Type 1 quarters exhibit, the eagle on the reverse also looks suspect around the tips of the wing feathers these appear too pointy.

I'd say a grade of AU55 or better is right on, but the coin just jumps out at me and most 1917 Type 1 quarters don't give the high relief this one does generally, I'm not calling it a fake but it is suspect to me. A really good one though if it is. How is the weight? and the rims? Do they look normal? And weight is on at 6.3 grams?

Compare to this nice large photo (click the small photo for a larger one).
http://www.coincommunity.com/us_qua..._liberty.asp

This caused me to step back and look a little deeper. So, off to Heritage I went, and I've probably looked at 75 different Type One 1917-P's over the night, from AU to Top Pop MS67FH's.

Not_one had horizontal lines this strong. Not one. Not even close. Further, the (viewer's) left-side set consistently had one stripe with a pronounced "hump," even with the base of the second star below "IN GOD" and Liberty's knee. The coin shown here doesn't have that hump.

Hate to say it, but I think D0ubl3Eagle has something here.

AU-55.

After asking to make sure it was alright to post this, here is a scan of the page that I was referring to.

Just received the coin, now that I have in hand and looked at it closer. I'm inclined to say its real. I haven't weighed it yet, going to my local coin dealer for that and to see what he says. But it matches up with all the real ones graded and not. Only the lines are different in that they are bolder. The coin has deffenetly been cleaned at some point. If it's fake, it's a real good one.

Try to be mindful and avoid being in denial.
The documentation is right in front of you.
I understand because the coin is beautiful but...

Conversely if you like it keep it, people pay a lot for henning nickels

Good to hear that! Though as mentioned the "Henning nickels" are a collectible in their own right, a counterfeit coin should never be sold without caveats that is what it is. I know in the EAC world electrotypes of early cents can and do bring some hefty prices. $400-600 for a quality chain cent, though nowhere near the $20K or more for a real one in better than fine quality.

So glad you were able to get your money back and weren't stuck with a bad and illegal coin!

A link to the Henning Nickels if your curious: http://www.numismaticenquirer.com/T...0Nickel.html