Very Rare Straits Settlements 1878 Cent

I managed to get some of the dirt off to better see the date, though some corrosion still persists. I also compared the rim to others I have of this type and did not find any significant differences.
Please scrutinize this close up pic.

Thanks!



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Hi Numismat - The enlargement of the date does a nice job.

If you notice - there is apparent corrosion around an ON both of the digits that I am concerned with - the 7 and the 8 but nothing similar is visible on the other two digits or the beaded circle. There may be some in the fields but it is not as clear in any other area on this enlargement.

I did a blow-up of the 8 on the picture because it has a "feature" I have seen before on doctored coins. The surface of the suspect letters are crazed (cracked) as if the material has shrunk. These cracks form in a pattern seen in clay at the bottom of a dry river bed. The apparent cracks run side to side the full width of the 8 but do not extend out onto the fields. This cracking does happen on letters that are molded or sculpted from a soft matrix that then hardens... The shape of the 8 is very good and it may have been molded from the first 8 but if you put a ruler on the picture you can see that the 8's are NOT the same width. The easiest to measure is the upper loop of the 8 - the edges are sharp and two measurements that should be the same are found not to be identical.

I did a rough outline of some of the big seams in yellow and placed both the original picture and the enlargements side by side.

Can anyone else see what I mean?



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Yes, it can be caused naturally. It is just very suspicious when it happens primarily on the two digits that would have to be altered to tuen a 10 cent coin into one worth $100.

Perhaps I am simply too suspicious, but I handle quite a few forgeries each and every week and nothing surprises me.

I actually also noticed that on the right side of the second 8, there is not so much of a pronounced indent between the loops as the first 8 and even the right side of the same 8. So if indeed it was doctored, would the most likely candidate?
There is no 1879, so would the 1874 be the closest? It also would have the plain edge like my coin.

Just as for some added information on the issue of date alterations - there is an auction on ebay still active that has an altered date.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...230215409746

This particular coin is my specialty. The host coin is a later date issue from the same mint (struck after 1882). But the alteration is very obvious. The 6 and the O are the wrong fonts and there is a discoloration around the altered numbers and letters. This changes a $15 original common date into a "rare" date and bidding has reached over $80.

Here is the coin itself. There is no doubt in my mind that the coin itself is real - but it is a bullion item with a little cosmetic surgery.

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Just found one of these on ebay from a Malaysian seller. This definitely looks like an 1876 altered (badly I might add). This is item # 290200881601

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Here's the link:

https://goccf.com/t/24555

It's a 5 centavos so it's not a cap and rays series coin, but I figure you must know something about these varieties as well?

Thanks again!

Yes, ebay politics are to make them the most money, not to protect ignorant buyers.