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Fake commemorative?

9 posts in this topic

oh my

my my my my my my my my my my my my my.........................

 

i have not seen one of these bad boys in 20+ years

 

i see they are now starting to come out of old collections

 

thanks for posting this a great thread !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

first of all the color is actually pretty good on these counterfeits but they have been around for decades

 

this coin was made by one on one transfer dies

 

there is a LARGE depression between the lettering of ER in AMERICA

 

the weight and specific gravity of the counterfeit is damn close to an original coin

 

 

tooling marks at liberties chin-- i think i can see these in the photo

 

depression at base of liberties torch

 

raised metal on second N of INDEPENDENCE-- I CAN SEE THIS IN THE PHOTO

 

tool mark at A and depression at L of CENTENNIAL

 

 

great thread by the way i never got taken by this type of fake 2.5 sesqui: only a fake gem louis and clark gold dollar in 1979 but i traded it back to the dealer a year later lol i dont know if he ever knew it was a fake as he was stupid and also a goniff rat crooked cheat ................... so 50/50

 

also please read my signature post below

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Thanks for posting this. I recall seeing a note in the Breen - Swiatek commemorative book about this item, warning collectors to buy certified pieces.

 

One of the factors that makes this a dangerous counterfeit is that the genuine coin it so poorly made. Like the Sesquicentennial half dollar, the quarter eagle was struck with shallow dies, which did not bring up the relief of the design well.

 

The sad part about that is the reverse design is actually quite good, far better than the Independence Hall that appeared on the reverse of the 1776-1976 half dollar. If you do the "grading check swirl" under a strong light some examples of this coin will give you wonder sunrise light show behind Independence Hall. It's really quite nice, but most examples don't show this reflection very well.

 

It is also interesting to note that some dealers don't like this coin at all. One time when I asked a well-known dealer in classic coins if he had one of these for sale, he gave me the sign of the cross, like he was warding off a vampire, and told me, "No." The coin was a bear to sell, so far as he was concerned.

 

Here are photos of a genuine example. It looks better in person.

 

1926SesquiGold2O_zpse4aa0fcd.jpg1926SesquiGold2R_zps0ca7f7c6.jpg

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Oops, maybe I am the insufficiently thoughtful person, because the coin arrived today in an ICG MS63 slab after I saw the "88" on the invoice, code for fake emailed to me when the invoice shipped. I tried calling them around closing time @5 but it was too late.

 

 

 

ICG Coin Number

 

Year

 

Denomination

 

Prefix

 

Grade

 

Suffix

 

Variety

 

 

 

207849-08-01

 

1884

 

S$1

 

MS

 

64

 

207849-07-01

 

1926

 

$2 1/2

 

 

 

88 Sesquicentennial

 

http://i.imgur.com/Gd3WTQx.jpg

 

This is the first time I have seen evidence of a grading service changing its mind. I don't know if there is still a "question" of authenticity, I figure Randy Campbell and Skip Fazzari and the others know something about authenticating.

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I don't know ...

 

The coin does have an odd "dead pan" look to it. It would take better close-up photos to pass an opinion, and it might even take a personal review to really render a decent opinion as to weather it is genuine or not.

 

Still there appears to be a copper stain inside the letter "L" in in "LIBERTY." A dealer who knows what he's doing once told me that he had never seen a counterfeit gold coin with copper stains. I don't know if that is true or not.

 

At any rate I have found that copper stains are very common on Sesquicentennial quarter eagles. They are some common that they are one of the factors that makes it hard to find a really attractive example of this coin.

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Both of Sinnock's sesquicentennial coin designs are so blatantly ugly and low in relief that nothing can save them -- not even fakes.

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