Fake 1916 Halfpenny Mule On Ebay

Agent 86
I hadn't realised that rbarat was using the arrows to show the line. So looks like a fake from 2 halves.
I do have a grip on reality, I'm a numismatic researcher who regularly finds evidence in archives that contradicts the accepted opinions of others. There are so many fakes out there that it isn't possible to trust any consensus. BTW could you specify which "people who know what they are doing" have examined the mules to declare them genuine? How can they declare them genuine without any research on the subject since 1965?
The editor of Australian Coin Review was the one who decided that the mule was genuine and thereafter refused to consider other opinions. Those who were more doubting were effectively silenced. It was most convenient that the only person who could claim to have a mule prior to 1965 was dead when the find was announced and within a month several more were found.
There has not been a single paper published on the subject and the only tests were those rudimentary tests carried out in 1965. Have they been XRF analysed? What about an extensive search of 1916 standard halfpennies to identify the working die? Same with an examination of 1/4 Annas. Which of the researchers has been to India to examine mint records? Has microscopic metallurgical analysis been conducted on 1916 halfpennies in general to identify which ore bodies the metals came from?
"The people who know what they are doing" have been proven wrong in the past few years about much of what was accepted as fact. Just last year I read a paper that identified that at least 20% (and sometimes over 50%) of artworks in museums and galleries are misatributed (and often fake). There are also many thousands of misidentified/fake coins in museums and I know of cases that the errors have been pointed out but they don't want to know about it.
The little bump on the inner ring on Saxtons coin only proves it came from the same die as the other mules, doesn't rule out the possibility that they are all fake (or all genuine).
Shane, yes there are lots of things claimed for David Gee. I'm not saying he had anything to do with the mule, but fakers of his calibre might have. Gee had inside contacts at the Australian mints that gave him access to the dies in storage here, so that opens the possibility he also had contacts (perhaps through Henderson?) in India with similar access.