Just Bob

So, what, in your opinion, is the "T?"

Looks damaged to me.

What you see on the date is post-mint damage. The pic is a bit too fuzzy for me to say for sure about doubling.

"Floating Head?" Is this someone's cutesy name for an over polished die?

Try turning off all lights except for one table lamp or similar light source. Hold the coin at an angle to the light and look at the placement of the shadows that the devices throw off. Is the "T" showing the same shadow, different shadow, or no shadow? Rotate the coin 90 degrees to confirm your finding. The same shadow means it is raised. Different shadow means it is incuse or otherwise different from the devices. No shadow means it is even with the surface of the coin.

If it is raised, this answer gets my vote. I see no hint of a shadow, though, so I am going to say odd toning or something similar.

When I first saw the date, I thought it said "1853" and my brain went, "Wait - What!? NIce FE

I may be wrong, but I have a feeling that those areas that are really crusty will still be noticeable, even if you are able to remove all of the black stuff. Whether or not you will be able to retone it to make it look natural is anyone's guess. That said, olive oil is probably your safest choice.

Posting a picture of both sides would be helpful. Giving the weight in grams would be even more helpful. And an average diameter in millimeters would be nice, also.

Keep in mind that these were not taken directly off the press and placed into rolls by hand. They went into a bin with thousands of other coins, and were then counted, sorted, bagged, rolled, etc., all the while being banged into by other coins. The odds of finding a pristine example are slim, as the others have stated. Welcome to the forum.

I am afraid that what you have is a regular business strike Lincoln.

Island Side Plantation was owned by the Jones family from 1908 to 1940. It became one of the former plantations which were part of a 1940 government project in which 10,000 acres were purchased by the government, and divided into parcels for resale. Former tenant farmers could apply for low interest loans to buy small tracts of the land. Tokens were issued in 5 and 10 cent denominations. (I am still looking for a 10)

Do you remember Paregoric? It was a 4% tincture of opium that was available over the counter until 1970, and then available in anti-diarrheal medicines like Donnagel-PG by signing for it until the late 80s or early 90s. It now requires a prescription the same as any other opiate.

While anything is possible in theory, if I were to submit a coin like this to NGC, I would have 100% confidence in their ability to detect a counterfeit.

All the pictures that I can find show these being coined "medal-turn," - both sides facing the same direction - as opposed to "coin-turn" -the way your coin (and U.S. coins) are oriented. From the little that I have read,however, it appears some mints that produced these minted them coin-turn, or maybe both ways, so I can't say for sure if yours is an error, or if it was done intentionally. If someone has a copy of "Resplandores," more information may be in there. (Even though it is about Cap and Rays 8 Reales, which were minted in later years, it may have info on the minting processes used earlier.) If it does not say "rotated die," or something similar, on the label, I would assume it is normal for that year and mint.

NGC population is 16 in MS67, with none graded higher. PCGS population is 30 in MS67, 7 in MS67+, and 2 in MS68. My guess is that at the time of the auction, Feb., 2014, this MS67+ was the highest graded example, and at least two people wanted it very badly for their registry set. Unfortunately for the owner, when it came time to sell, the price had dropped substantially. That same $9,988 coin sold for $646 on Jan. 4, 2017. The $800 price is much too high, also. An MS67 should be closer to $300 - $400, and an MS67+ about $500 - $600. (and, honestly, I think those prices are way too high, too, but if a buyer wants a coin badly, it is worth whatever they are willing to pay.)

I would never have guessed 64. From those pictures, it looks like it should have graded higher.

Maybe this is a good excuse to go buy something.

Removed from a bezel or encapsulation of some sort, just as the others have stated.

All of the dies used to mint Capped Bust Half Dollars have been identified, and are assigned identifying numbers (obverse dies) or letters (reverse dies). The die pairs, or "marriages," are given numbers, called Overton numbers after Al Overton, who wrote "Early Half Dollar Die Varieties 1794-1836." I have given the attribution challenge my best shot,and here is what I came up with: The 1817 looks like O-111, R1. 1809 appears to be O-105, R2. 1813 is either O-102, R4, or O-104, R4. Those two varieties share the same reverse die. I am leaning toward O-102, due to the way the date looks. The 1819 is quite worn, but I think it is O-102, R2, which is actually an overdate - 1819/8. If anyone sees where I made an error, please feel free to comment. The "R" numbers above are the rarity numbers, listed in the table below.

These were manufactured in the first part of the 20th century, up until 1950 or so, by Irvine & Jachens of San Francisco. They are listed in Jankovsky's Guide to Slugs and Facsimiles, along with similar pieces with different obverses or reverses. Yours is either J-140 or J-149, depending on the size .As is usual in the world of exonumia, value is generally dependant on who is buying at a particular time. There are a few uncirculated pieces on Ebay right now, listed at $265 to over $500, but remember: these are uncirculated, graded by NGC or ANACS, and are just asking prices - not "sold" prices.Yours, though in good shape, does not look uncirculated, so would not bring those prices.. I could not find an actual sold listing, so the "real life" price could very well be much less than those prices above. In fact, Greenstang's estimate of $50 is probably pretty close to what you might expect to get for it.

I have never researched the presses used by private minting companies, as compared to the ones used by the US Mint, but rotated dies seem to be very prevalent on trade-tokens.

I have a lot on my plate right now, but if you'll give me a couple of days, I will try to get attributions for those, or at least narrow it down as best I can. If you post another picture of the 1817 reverse right side up, so I don't have to keep tilting my head sideways, I'll try to get the Overton number for that one as well.

Good luck!!