1906-S Liberty Head Double Eagle 20 Dollar Gold Coins ?

With the new pictures, I feel more confident the coin is, unfortunately, not genuine. In addition to the date, the lettering on the reverse looks different than that on the genuine examples.

My first impression was a very, very harsh cleaning - maybe someone tried to remove something from the coin and ended up sanding it down. After further inspection, with the others on their conclusions about authenticity.

I'm held back from being sure it's a counterfeit because it was shot on an iPhone. They're admittedly excellent cameras, the best phone camera for shooting coins, but macro photography introduces perspective distortions and tiny lenses have distortion problems of their own. So, although I'm seeing certain things, I don't necessarily trust what I'm seeing.

What I see most importantly are odd angles on the date digits and mushiness about LIBERTY. Per my usual habit, I looked at the first fifty or so Heritage results for this issue to determine date and mintmark locations (with a mintage of two million there will be plenty of variance). The mint mark is OK for shape and placement but I saw none with a left-tilted 9.

If those features are distorted by the images, my opinion is in doubt.

It's quite possible this is gold even if it's counterfeit. Wouldn't be the first time the counterfeiter planned on profit from the numismatic premium, and this one doubles melt value and then some at MS64. Heck, they could have stolen the gold to begin with and it's all gravy. The cleaning lines could be deliberate to help mask the fake features; that wouldn't be a first either.

I have seen gold coins JUST LIKE THIS turn out to be authentic. Yes, has odd features but may be cause from an EDS or a LDS....When I compare your photo to others, Yes some things are off but you will find that with about every coin series and date.....If anything, I see possible doubling on alot of your devices, which could throw off the appearance of letters.

EDS and LDS are Early Die State and Late Die State, describing how a die wears during use and imparts weaker strikes as it wears. An LDS coin will show details somewhat "smeared" or weakened. On your coin, what I'm seeing around LIBERTY could be the product of a very worn die. This issue was about 2 million pieces, and 200,000 strikes would have been a good lifespan for a die. So, one might expect they would make the best use of each die, because they are painstaking to prepare.

Many counterfeits are contemporary, designed to join in circulation with "real" circulating coinage. So this could be a counterfeit - if it is - which is itself over a century old.

The scratches are the product of someone deliberately wiping the coin. Gold is very soft, of course, and these scratches could have as easily been caused by a somewhat-coarse cloth as a brush. But they're deliberate, even if they didn't happen during your family's ownership. And they often are not visible except from specific lighting angles - it is easy to believe that you never saw them prior to putting the coin under the camera.

How much does the coin weigh? That should get a definitive answer.

Thanks! came back MS65 by NGC, the Jeweler I was buying it from dropped it on the ground TWICE before I took it and safely stashed it!!....on the same trip I paid either $25 or $26 for an 1895-O Morgan that should have came back a au50 but I got a 45.







Also did I forget to mention I picked up a 1942/1-D mercury not too long ago? It was before silver dropped again so I paid a full $1.20

I need to take pics of it!

Back to the OP: Your coin appears counterfeit but I am curious as to its weight? Can you give us a weight in grams?

Copperpennyconnection: You should start a different thread with your coin pictures.