Your opinion, please, on this 1800 raw half dime

[EZ_E]

Something seems fishy to me being raw and an apparently nice coin. Is it real? Flawed?

 

[dooly]

I know what you mean the 8 looks "well strange" to me seems like it has been messed about with and the coin itself seems week in the wrong places ?

[physics-fan3.14]

Looks fake to me.

[123cents]

Probably a cast copy.

[bsshog40]

I agree, looks fake to me too!

[Schatzy]

The 8 looks fishy!!

[MarkFeld]

I guess I'm in the extreme minority, as my first impression tells me the coin looks genuine.

 

Edited to add: That said, based on what the seller has sold previously and has listed for sale now, I agree that the listing seems highly suspicious. I choose to avoid such situations - I prefer to miss out on potential good deals if it also means avoiding other bad/problem ones.

[gmarguli]

I can't tell you why, but my initial gut feeling on seeing the coin, I have major reservations about its authenticity.

[MarkFeld]

I can't tell you why, but my initial gut feeling on seeing the coin, I have major reservations about its authenticity.

Greg, is that based on the appearance of the coin itself, the seller and his listings or both? Thanks.

[James_OldeTowne]

It looks genuine to me, but I wonder if it has been repaired.

[gmarguli]

I can't tell you why, but my initial gut feeling on seeing the coin, I have major reservations about its authenticity.

Greg, is that based on the appearance of the coin itself, the seller and his listings or both? Thanks.

 

Based on the coin 100%. I didn't even look who the seller was until after I made up my opinion about the coin and since I didn't recognize his eBay ID, I didn't look into him any further.

 

The coin just has an odd, almost distorted appearance to me. The best I can say is that it just doesn't look like I'd want a 200+ year old coin to look.

[michael]

Your opinion, please, on this 1800 raw half dime

 

simple

 

 

PASS.................................!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Barndog]

if it is a fake, it is a darn good looking fake of the 1800 LM-3/V-2 die marriage. All the diagnostics for that die marriage check out on the coin, including the effects of die damage vicinity BUS (of PLURIBUS) on the scroll. Looking like the real thing doesn't make it real though. In-hand examination would be the only acceptable way to verify it is the real deal.

[coinman1794]

Something seems fishy to me being raw and an apparently nice coin. Is it real? Flawed?

 

 

This is the LIBEKTY variety, which virtually alwasy has a flat spot to the left of the eagle's head. The style of the 8 is typical of this issue, a quick run through photograde should confirm that. The coin looks genuine to me, but its probably not original, and I would stay away just because of the seller. The pictures are not good enough to make any absolute determinations.

[jesbroken]

I agree with coinman regarding the "8" and the flat spot next to the eagle's head, but the photos I am comparing it to on Heritage show much thinner stars and in the same grade range. This is what made the coin look different to me and would scare me away from such priced coin. JMO

Jim

[BillJones]

Here is a genuine example of the 1800 "LIBEKTY" variety. You will note that the "8" has the same look as the suspect coin here. There is also the same die injury to the lower left below the eagle's beak. My coin is a late die state with a die break to the left of the date.

 

If the coin offered is a cast copy, it's a darn good one. I think the coin has been cleaned which gives it the odd dull metal look.

 

But I agree with Mark. Why look for trouble? The coin is scarce (an R-3 variety), but they do show up at large bourses from time to time.

 

[EZ_E]

Seller's response to my inquiry:

 

it came from an old US collections that we got last months...it hides in bunch of other tiny 1/2 dime....we have these cases all the time...esp in these recession time...lots of things coming out..

[DWLange]

I won't comment on the authenticity of the subject coin, but this obverse die of genuine coins utilized two small zero punches overlapped to create the numeral 8. Evidently, an 8 puncheon was not available, and that's why the 8 looks odd.

[BillJones]

To expand upon David Lange's comments, the obverse die for the 1800 “LIBEKTY” half dime was made with some patch work elements. An “8” date punch had not been needed before 1800 because that digit had not been required for any of the previous dies. The mint did not make any half dimes that bore the date 1798. Apparently the die maker chose not to wait for an “8” punch to arrive and decided to use two zeros instead. In addition the “R” punch in the word “LIBERTY” was broken at the top. That resulted in the curious open topped “R” that resembled a “K.” Finally the reverse die was damaged apparently by a blunt instrument which resulted in the flat spot on the reverse.