Not Genuine 1809 Capped Bust Dime

Yeah, the date looked offish, and if this were a genuine coin, this to me would probably grade around a XF+ or so. Yikes, 1300+ for a most likely counterfeit... This reminds me of an earlier thread on here about a fake 1896-S quarter also on ebay that sold for nearly 1000.

My standard comment.
For that much money it HAS to be slabbed by PCGS or NGC for me to be interested.

Could I ask @Germanicvs to point out a few of the counterfeit markers here?

And how do you know yours is real?


Yes please. We are all trying to learn here

As I mentioned, only one set of dies was employed at the mint to strike all dimes dated 1809.

There are quite a few obvious differences between genuine examples and the example sold here. I am attaching a picture of an example from the Heritage archives which you can use for comparison.

Focus, for example on the relative position of star 1 relative to the point of the bust. Star 7 relative to the junction and hair and cap, and finally, of star 8 relative to the cap. The differences are obvious. On the reverse, also, there are various differences when compared to the genuine example shown.

Those are just the obvious differences. There is also a difficult to describe, imperceptible difference in the 'fabric' of this coin when compared to a genuine example.





In response to the question about 'How do I know if MY coin is real?"
I have been collecting capped dimes for about 35 years. I believe I have leant to tell in that time a genuine example from one which it is not.


Examples of this date from my collection:

GERMANICVS - You sure have some nice examples of 1809 capped bust dimes there! I agree it is sad when people get taken on counterfeit items, but one should always do research before tossing down more than a few dollars towards anything I believe.

I am not in the camp of everything needs to be slabbed, however I do encourage researching enough to know what you are getting, and if that isn't enough bring in a qualified expert to help, pay them as well, it is money well spent to save you from making a big mistake.

That coin wasn't even a great counterfeit - passable to the untrained eye, yet still a counterfeit.

The winning bidder was a last minute buyer and the only bid they placed on the coin. The only reason this sold was ebay didn't pull it, nobody reported it soon enough, and it started at a very low price to avoid the over $1000 must be certified rule.

ebay is quickly becoming a poor place to sell coins and other items, I find, unfortunately there is no other place that receives the traffic they do and is a viable safe place for sellers and buyers - YET.

Also a side note to always report suspicious items you find on ebay, better to err on the side of caution but it flag the item for someone to look into. I know several people that are tireless workers going after these scams, but they can't catch them all.

Haven't checked it but I think the rev may be the STATESOFAMERICA rev. Key feature to prove the rev is NOT that of the 1809, on the S in PLURIBUS is completely right of the S in STATES. On the ebay fake it is centered below the right ride of the S. Other things the 8 is shaped wrong and the spacing between the obv stars is wrong. On the real 1809 stars 1, 2, and 3 are evenly spaced with the space between 3 and 4 a little wider. On the ebay coin 2,3,and 4 are even with a wider space between 1 and 2. Star 7 point at the lower edge of the headband on the real 1809, on the ebay coin it points at the top edge.