1799 US Coin - Would Love Information

I'm suspicious. Take a look at the talon holding the branch. The way the stem runs is quite different from the coin posted by Fuzzy317.

Looks like a counterfeit to me on one clue - see the obverse field under 12th Star (clockwise count) that is green oxide on a typical 4-6% Cu alloy type Ag/Cu coin. Green spotting with this level of copper is an indicator of it being a fake --- although it could be german silver and not a recent fake due to its aged look ... I suspect the edge has some age to it also ... looks like a collectible forgery - meaning ... could be 19thC (late).

John Lorenzo
United States

Thanks for the information Conder!

Can you show pictures of the edge of the coin, or/and tell us what you see on the edge. Also, dip the coin in Hydrogen Peroxide.......if the coin turns black, it's fake.

Hello,

The one big sore thumb that stood out on this counterfeit coin is the lower portion of the upper loops on the top parts of the 99; they are significantly thicker compared to the authentic PCGS photos.

I verified almost all of 99s of the major and minor die varieties(BB-154 through BB-169) and each of the 99s of the 1799 appear to be similar in that the PCGS coins all possess thinner dates at least in the referred-to areas previously alluded to.

Please review the following photos for comparison:

mdpmedia, I don't know that you can make this claim based on comparisons to professional photographs of mint-state coins. The pics we have are just too blurry, even to say whether the details look mushy; the second set posted by Goods are a bit clearer and, indeed, the bottom curls of the 9s appear thinner in them. Also, wear itself can make a narrow feature appear more broad. Of course, so can a die transfer copy process, and I think we can say at least that, if this is a counterfeit, it was directly copied from a genuine coin. One spot I would like to see up close is the reverse at ICA, near the rim. It looks like the denticles may not go all the way out to the edge; a die transfer copy can have some shrinkage in the process, and a blank halo may be necessary for the coin to be produced at a diameter comparable to the genuine article. I still think colonialjohn is right; the most concerning evidence for a forgery is still the spot of what looks like verdigris.
What little we can see of the edge lettering looks correct, which probably rules out a 19th century electrotype.

All I see is the "fishtail" or "swallowtail" metal flow striking anomaly, causing invaginations at the bases of long uprights in the letters. It's prominent on all the letters on this coin. All it means is that this coin, or the coin it was copied from, was struck without a collar.