Quote: I'll go with it being a contemporary forgery. I have a similar mushy-detailed French 2 franc brass forgery. It was no doubt sharper looking before it lost its plating.
Forgery of small coins was common in France. I think that it was easier to get small coins to pass into circulation. Here's an American example, an 1861 plated dime with the silver partially worn off.
https://southcarolina1670.wordpress...-the-effort/ Thanks for looking at it. I definitely thought the "mushiness" was one indication of that, since it doesn't really have the look of a coin that was ever "whole" at some point in its life (as in, no area of the coin appears to have been struck cleanly, nor with any sufficient amount of force). Worn silver coins have a certain "look" to them, but this one seems as if it's always been of rather poor quality.
Yes, it likely was. Heck, if it does turn out to be a forgery, my picking it up out of a junk silver box can serve as one more indication of its success in that respect! Granted, it's not the same thing as circulation, but it's pretty close. :)
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I think there is a fairly good chance it is a contemporary counterfeit. Notice in the side by side images the coin in question is significantly less worn and is thicker than the genuine coin yet is 20% underweight. (Out of curiosity it would be good to know what the well worn genuine coin weighs.)
A specific gravity test would be the clincher.
Thank you for the assessment. The coin's relative thickness in comparison to its weight was one thing that caught my attention as I was comparing it to the other 1911 dime, which is why I thought a picture of them resting side-by-side might prove useful.
In answer to your question, the thinner, genuine 1911 dime weighs 2.23 grams.
With regard to a specific gravity test, unfortunately I don't believe I have a beaker or other container with that precise of measurements on its side.
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This.
I've dug silver in "my own backyard" (chalk/clay) that, except for wear/abrasion, is immediately recognizable as silver while it's still in the hole.
I've also dug what I thought was clad on the beach or in the surf zone only to find out that it's really silver that looks like someone stabbed it a thousand times with a small laser beam.
Other things affect a dug coin as well: sulfur content, moisture, and aeration, to name a few.
Gold and silver often look quite presentable "out of the hole"; copper, on the other hand...
What initially made me curious about this coin is essentially that: namely, that it isn't at all recognizable as silver (if it is silver). Yes, the coin is worn out and rather pitted, but it doesn't have the look of corroded or tarnished silver. Nor does it sound like silver when it's set on top of other silver dimes. The coin looks more like one of those cheap museum replicas that you can pick up in gift shops, although I doubt it would have been worthwhile for anyone to counterfeit this coin in recent times.
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Posted 01/29/2016 3:36 pm
