1909 S VDB Authentic Or Counterfeit

VDB looks fine. Positioning is correct, wear seems along the same line as e pluribus unum, S looks fine but just concerned about what looks like to be a concave area below it. A VF coin anyway. Reverse
may go VF+

Need a closer sharper look at the initials and the mm.

hmmm....I recognize this very coin from somewhere. Did you just buy it? I remember that distinctive set of scratches and the abnormal bold initials... Can't remember from where though. But it was recently, as in within the last 6 weeks or so.

Initials should have some tell tale tapering and shape of the letters that can't be seen in the pics provided.

Most of the markers look good. The funky N in united looks as it should to me. That wonky shallow N is one of the markers. But without the coin in hand it would be unfair to cry foul without a better look. Without a doubt it is either all good or a very good counterfeit. Period placement, legends and mm look good from a distance but it is not a crisp enough picture to stand on with iron clad certainty.

I reserve judgment until seeing the MM and initials closer and sharper. Just can't be certain from so far away and without some sharper images it will just go in circles.

Others better than I can chime in. I am not a dealer, just a collector. So my only exposure is to my own and my pictures are terrible. I am curious why this particular coin is so familiar to me.

Thank You! I didn't think I was nuts:-)
Bill

Most dealers are not professional authenticators so if it was not looked at by someone familiar with these coins and particularly the particular diagnostics needed to declare the coin , one way or the other, take what they said with a grain of salt, especially if they said it was legit. Fully fifty percent of dealers at a major coin show last year couldn't tell a counterfeit Morgan dollar from China from a real one. Some fakes were shown around by Susan Headley and a subsequent series was featured in Coin World on the subject. She educated many dealers as to what the fakes looked like and the fake Morgans were easier to discern than the 1909 S VDB cent shown here.

No disrespect to good dealers, but depending upon the region and the dealers visited, some have a hard time telling a Jefferson nickel from a Lincoln Cent:-) Of course, that is a slight exaggeration but you get the idea.

Thanks,
Bill