Real Or Fake 1854 Large Cent

The hysteria over conterfeit coins is reaching new heights! When an obviously genuine, low dollar large cent generates this much hype, the hobby suffers.

soldier4Christ you have nothing to worry about. You got a fair deal on a nice coin.

I watched an elderly gentleman at a show a few weeks ago sell his entire collection because of the articles in Coin World. He stated he has had enough. Sold every coin he had. Does it make me nervous, yes it sure does and I have been in the hobby for 40+ years. Counterfeits or altered coins have been around for years though, I picked up a 1909SVDB back in the 70's that is fake. Problem today is the vast numbers of them being sold on ebay then passed around at local coin shows. Most dealers will tell you that they see the counterfeits at most every show they do trying to be sold as real. I have seen every series of coins attacked so none of them are sacred so to speak.

I do NOT see anything suspicious regarding the OP's coin. I simply put the link in so that we all know that common coins as well as rarities are being hit. Soldier, weighing the coin will help but not tell you for certain. I recently was told that the gold coins that are being counterfeited were almost perfect in weight and size. Be careful my friend.

I have one about a grade lower than this one. The only difference is my date is located to the left about 1/32 and higher so the top of the one touches the bust. It appears original to me. nlp

Why would anyone knowingly purchase a fake US coin from China is beyond me. You're just keeping them in business.

Where you guys are seeing red warning flags, I'm seeing a challenge. Accept that challenge. Numismatics is all about separating the wheat from the chaff, with the unique difference that we all have dissimilar opinions concerning what's "wheat" and what's "chaff."

So we have the additional challenge of coping with potential counterfeits. This is your opportunity to further your knowledge (and this hobby is all about knowledge). Most counterfeits are easily identifiable to a trained eye, so your job is to become that trained eye. You'll need the skill to correctly interpret photographs sometimes lacking in quality, and the discipline to walk away when the results aren't conclusive - or the willingness to evaluate and take a chance when you think it's called for.

These are skills which will serve you well in numismatics, whether there are counterfeits in the mix or not. I think we sometimes lose sight of just how important a good accumulated body of knowledge is to the pursuit of this hobby. Nothing in numismatics which is worth having comes easily - if you're just throwing money haphazardly at slabbed coins, you're an investor, not a collector.

Collectors sweat the details.

For the record, I'll be very surprised if Boris' coin is a fake. I'd have taken that chance without a doubt.

You can get a cheap digital scale on ebay...lol

http://cgi.ebay.com/3805-MINI-500-x...LE_W0QQitemZ400024442074QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item400024442074&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66:2%7C65:15%7C39:1%7C240:1318

Very similar to the one I use

Thanks... I guess what I meant to ask was what would be a good cheap scale? As I have never purchased one. Thanks for answering that question as well.