1838 Capped Bust Half - Possible Counterfeit?

I know it's April fools and all....so, grain of salt for any odd postings

But that is definitely not an authentic 1838 Half. For a lot of reasons, Head looks wrong, and is too small. Looks like an attempt at a pre-1836 head. Date is too small, 50C lettering is too 'thin'. Eagles' head looks wrong, motto looks wrong...

Just my opinion, but that coin doesn't look right...

Hope you didn't pay money for it.

nice attempt though... ha ha

That's good that he has very little into it... recent purchase? Can you still get a hold of the seller?

The crude diework on this item suggests to me that it may be a contemporary couterfeit, perhaps made well over a hundred and fifty years ago. If so, there are collectors who seek these, and there's a serious book out about them, too. Perhaps, another CCF member may have that book and will yet post info.

Yep- 1,200 1836s and 1837-1839 halves had reeded edges, not lettered.

I have to agree with ExoGuy, I think it is quite likely a contemporary counterfeit. Based on the appearance of the dentils, I would say it was struck in an open collar which explains why it is not reeded. I would think that a lettered edge counterfeit would have been easier to pass than a reeded edge in that time period simply because Bust Halves had lettered edges for 29 years of mintage vs. 4 years of mintage for reeded edges. People would have been more familiar with the lettered edge and may have even been suspicious of a genuine reeded edge at the time simply because it was "different".

Lettering looks wrong, should be coin reverse. Looks like pot metal. Bust is too heavy. Diameter is way too big, prolly to bring weight up to within tolerance.

http://www.coincommunity.com/us_hal...f_dollar.asp

I suspect the fakes are made with obvious "mistakes" like the 50c, so that they can get away with not having to put COPY on them, since you can only be a copy of an original, and there's no such thing as a 50c coin that year.

That is so fake it's not even funny;. OK a little funny

It is not a cast coin, it is a struck coin. That obverse die is used on several different obverse/reverse combinations and you can follow the progrssion of the die cracks to see the die wear from tremendous use. (Most noticable on the 12th star where the crack blends into the denticles). The early bust half counterfeits are as interesting to me as the varieties of the regular issues. This coin is one of the more common known contemporary counterfeits.

I appreciate the info!

What are these contemporary counterfeits typically made out of? The diameter matches a lettered edge half and it is within .35 gram of what a lettered edge half is supposed to weigh.

Did they make these out of real silver? I would think if it was some kind of base metal, it would be more significantly under weight.