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 Replies: 16 / Views: 3,696 |
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Valued Member
United States
311 Posts |
Hey everyone so I found these for sale but the price is low, 50$ for both of them and it has me concerned. I don't like the circles on the pilgrims hat and a couple spots on the California half. What do you guys think.   |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5206 Posts |
What do they weigh?
Do they sounds like silver when you ring them?
That would be the easiest way and first thing I would do.
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Valued Member
 United States
311 Posts |
I don't have them in hand, I haven't bought them yet. I got sent pics of them on the scale they weighed right. They was 12.4 and 12.6 I think was the weights I may be wrong though.
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Moderator
 United States
188213 Posts |
Photos are always difficult. My first impression is they look like they had a rough cleaning at some point.
I am sure commems and nickelsearcher will be able to offer more expert opinion.
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Valued Member
United States
311 Posts |
Yeah I figured they had been cleaned too, I'm really only interested in the California half I think I'm just gonna take a risk and buy it for 25$ worst case scenario PayPal refunds my money best case it's real.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4409 Posts |
To my eye, both look fake
The bear on the California seems too overly detailed and the lettering too skinny
The D initial for the designer is a mess on the Pilgrim. It's located to the left of the D of dollar. The obverse lettering is too skinny.
Let's see what commems and nickelsearcher have to say as well.
-MV
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Valued Member
United States
311 Posts |
Yeah I think the pilgrim is definitely fake. Not sure about the California jubilee half I don't have any experience with them.
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Valued Member
United States
311 Posts |
Both are fake, after blowing up the picture I can see tooling marks.
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Valued Member
United States
311 Posts |
The seller is lydianlane on Etsy. The sad thing is if you look at her feed back people have bought some high dollar coins and left positive feed back I bet you they are fake too. |
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21786 Posts |
These coins normally turn up in AU or better grades.
From the pictures the details do not seem to be sharp enough to suggest AU or better grades.
To me, the lack of sharpness of detail suggests they are copied off original coins, and in the process some of that sharpness has been lost.
Color of the pictures doesn't help, but that could just be the color balance of the lighting.
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CCF Master Historian of USA Commemoratives
United States
12267 Posts |
Based on the low-quality images provided, I'm not comfortable saying one way or the other. At first glance, the coins don't look "right," but it could be because of prior mistreatment and/or the way the coins were photographed.
They appear to both be circulated examples that have been improperly cleaned - I don't like the overall look of either coin but that alone would not make them fakes.
When I've enlarged the images, they become too pixelated for me to properly examine/diagnose.
Regardless of their cost, however, I would not purchase either of the coins. Much better examples at fair prices are available in the marketplace.
Collecting history one coin or medal at a time! (c) commems. All rights reserved.
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
5828 Posts |
Both coins look fake... Id say they are cast counterfeits. Weak looking coins (lots of detail lacking), and weird bubbles where air would've gotten stuck. Not to mention the small rim on the California half. FAKE.
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Valued Member
United States
469 Posts |
I would say that the Pilgrim looks fake because of the way the rim looks. I don't believe the beat up look is from circulation. I had two other commems with similar edge looks returned from PCGS as fake. I was fortunate and was able to get my money back. If the reeds on the reeded edge is real close together that's another clue for fake. If they come from Russia stay away.
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Valued Member
United States
98 Posts |
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Moderator
United States
15414 Posts |
Somehow I missed this thread ... hopeful that your time of decision has passed and you chose to take a pass on both of these.  IMHO with some experience with circulated examples from this set both of the coins are not authentic. The California is an easy one for me ... I have the exact same coin in my collection as a reminder of my lack of knowledge many years ago. The Pilgrim is a tough one to evaluate based on the photos provided ... I'm truly not 100% sure it's not genuine ... but it worries me and I would not pursue it. Do note this ... there are four world-class experts on the topic of circulated classic silver commemorative ... and three of them have offered their informed opinions. I suggest stay away.  David Take a look at my other hobby ... http://www.jk-dk.art |
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Valued Member
United States
311 Posts |
Yeah I passed on them, everything just didn't add up, and I could see the tooling marks on the California half.
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Replies: 16 / Views: 3,696 |
Posted 02/11/2016 2:39 pm
