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Damaged 1877 "Half Cent" on eBay: real of counterfeit?

seanqseanq Posts: 8,732 ✭✭✭✭✭
in U.S. Coin Forum
Link to auction listing.

The coin being sold is an 1877 Indian Cent which has been cut nearly in half. The seller claims the coin is genuine, but looking at his pictures I'm somewhat doubtful. In fact, I think someone probably cut it in half precisely to prevent it from being passed off as a genuine coin.

The one diagnostic I've always looked for on these is the "shallow N" reverse, on the auction coin the N seems well formed. Is there enough coin left for someone better versed in authenticating these to form an opinion? The images from eBay follow:

image
image


Sean Reynolds
Incomplete planchets wanted, especially Lincoln Cents & type coins.

"Keep in mind that most of what passes as numismatic information is no more than tested opinion at best, and marketing blather at worst. However, I try to choose my words carefully, since I know that you guys are always watching." - Joe O'Connor

Comments

  • gecko109gecko109 Posts: 8,231 ✭
    The 2nd "7" looks bogus to me.
  • STONESTONE Posts: 15,275 ✭


    << <i>The 2nd "7" looks bogus to me. >>


    image
  • dohdoh Posts: 6,457 ✭✭✭
    Honestly, it looks legit to me, but we'll see what Mr. Snow has to say about it...
    Positive BST transactions with: too many names to list! 36 at last count.
  • ziggy29ziggy29 Posts: 18,668 ✭✭✭
    If it's genuine, it's a damn shame.
  • phehpheh Posts: 1,588 ✭
    Looks ok to me also. The N is shallow in the right direction and the depth accurate to other legitimate examples I've handled. Obviously the clip is not real, as the auctioneer states. And while it seems bizarre to me someone would do this to the coin, given Max Mehl was paying $10 for these in 1944 ($120 today's dollars?) its certainly not impossible it wasn't done on a lark...
  • guitarwesguitarwes Posts: 9,290 ✭✭✭

    looks pretty genuine to me......shame shame shame.

    -wes
    @ Elite CNC Routing & Woodworks on Facebook. Check out my work.
    Too many positive BST transactions with too many members to list.
  • ziggy29ziggy29 Posts: 18,668 ✭✭✭
    Looking at my Snow reference, it looks like this one has the diagnostic angled die clash above the 'O' in ONE. I just significantly increased my belief that this one is genuine.
  • UtahCoinUtahCoin Posts: 5,366 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I'm 99% sure it's genuine. I seem to recall this very coin being auctioned a few years ago.
    I used to be somebody, now I'm just a coin collector.
    Recipient of the coveted "You Suck" award, April 2009 for cherrypicking a 1833 CBHD LM-5, and April 2022 for a 1835 LM-12, and again in Aug 2012 for picking off a 1952 FS-902.
  • QuarternutQuarternut Posts: 1,481 ✭✭✭
    Whether it is real or not is inmaterial...why would anyone want to buy it?

    If you are a collector, would you really want this damaged coin in your set?

    Moving on...

    Go to Early United States Coins - to order the New "Early United States Half Dollar Vol. 1 / 1794-1807" book or the 1st new Bust Quarter book!

  • dohdoh Posts: 6,457 ✭✭✭


    << <i>why would anyone want to buy it? >>


    I actually think it's pretty cool. I wouldn't want it for a set, but it's a neat, odd coin. It wouldn't be worth more than $20 or $30 to me, but I can see why someone would want it.

    Positive BST transactions with: too many names to list! 36 at last count.
  • Batman23Batman23 Posts: 5,001 ✭✭✭✭✭
    More than half the coin is there. It would work to complete that old coin folderimage

    Too bad, it was a nice looking example.
  • PrivateCoinCollectorPrivateCoinCollector Posts: 2,415 ✭
    Cut counterfiet.
    Morgan HerdTO Gold Mine
  • GrumpyEdGrumpyEd Posts: 4,749 ✭✭✭
    That would look funny in a folder!
    Half of a hole filler.

    Shame if it was a real one.

    Does that look like a clash mark above the O of one?
    Ed
  • braddickbraddick Posts: 24,753 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Definitely real.
    I remember seeing in a dealer's case at Long Beach a "V nickel' that has been run over by a railroad train. Smoothly smashed, the date and details were still visible. 1885.

    I wonder what this genuine 1877 will close at?

    peacockcoins

  • ambro51ambro51 Posts: 13,941 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Looks real to me. I guess someone held it to a grindstone....a cut would have warped it.

    If its a AU50,. is it now an AU25?
  • CasmanCasman Posts: 3,935 ✭✭
    Is it 1/2 off?image
  • derrybderryb Posts: 37,610 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>I seem to recall this very coin being auctioned a few years ago. >>



    Maybe it was the other half. image

    No Way Out: Stimulus and Money Printing Are the Only Path Left

  • LostSislerLostSisler Posts: 521 ✭✭✭
    Wow.
    It's real.
    Anyone want to buy that to donate to the ANA's Error Set to teach other what NOT to do... ? :-)
    Wow.
    Because to Err is Human.
    I specialize in Errors, Minting, Counterfeit Detection & Grading.
    Computer-aided grading, counterfeit detection, recognition and imaging.
  • adamlaneusadamlaneus Posts: 6,969 ✭✭✭
    I vote it is counterfeit because the alternative makes me sad. image
  • AUandAGAUandAG Posts: 24,929 ✭✭✭✭✭
    All my cents are round. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
    bobimage
    Registry: CC lowballs (boblindstrom), bobinvegas1989@yahoo.com
  • relicsncoinsrelicsncoins Posts: 8,103 ✭✭✭✭✭
    My guess is that the other half was holed or had some other sort over very distracting damage. So the owner at the time cuts the coin in half and then tries to pass it off as a key date with an error.

    JJ
    Need a Barber Half with ANACS photo certificate. If you have one for sale please PM me. Current Ebay auctions
  • micmtmicmt Posts: 671
    It would sem that if it was real and some one cut it it half it would have to have been a whole ago to get the color to be even. So lets say 50-75 years ago cut in half? And back then holey coins were cool right? Or am I just totally off base?
    "One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making new discoveries" -A.A. Milne
  • commoncents123commoncents123 Posts: 2,648 ✭
    I think it's genuine. Sometimes in photos there can be distortions that make small details look not quite right. According to the seller, someone intentionally clipped the coin to try to fake an error....I think the real quesiton here is, what bozo would cut a high grade 1877 IHC in half?
  • sinin1sinin1 Posts: 7,500 ✭
    I had a bid but auction cancelled

    anyone know when or who seller was?
  • dorkkarldorkkarl Posts: 12,691 ✭✭✭
    real

    K S
  • ambro51ambro51 Posts: 13,941 ✭✭✭✭✭
    poof
  • PerryHallPerryHall Posts: 46,797 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>poof >>



    Why would this thread be poofed?

    Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
    "Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
    "Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire

  • ambro51ambro51 Posts: 13,941 ✭✭✭✭✭
    not the thread...the coin auction. poofed from ebay
  • ziggy29ziggy29 Posts: 18,668 ✭✭✭


    << <i>Why would this thread be poofed? >>

    I think the reference was to the auction going poof.
  • EagleEyeEagleEye Posts: 7,677 ✭✭✭✭✭
    There was nothing from the image that made me think it was not real. The reverse had the typical clash marks over the O and the shallow N is correct. The date looked right and the edges were beveled as in real ones. Too bad about that cut.

    If eBay pulled the auction for it being counterfeit, they were wrong to do so, IMO.
    Rick Snow, Eagle Eye Rare Coins, Inc.Check out my new web site:
  • coinpicturescoinpictures Posts: 5,345 ✭✭✭
    Yep. Auction disappearing from database means eBay poofed it, not the seller withdrawing it.

    eBay is VERY quick to yank stuff right now...
    Numismotography

    1/2 Cents

    U.S. Revenue Stamps

    image
  • seanqseanq Posts: 8,732 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I think they pulled it not because the coin was counterfeit, but because the seller said in his description that the coin might have been cut to fake an error. He had another conventional clipped Indian cent he described as being of questionable authenticity which was also closed early.


    Sean Reynolds
    Incomplete planchets wanted, especially Lincoln Cents & type coins.

    "Keep in mind that most of what passes as numismatic information is no more than tested opinion at best, and marketing blather at worst. However, I try to choose my words carefully, since I know that you guys are always watching." - Joe O'Connor
  • seanqseanq Posts: 8,732 ✭✭✭✭✭
    FYI, this item is back, presumably this time with an eBay policy-friendly description.


    Sean Reynolds
    Incomplete planchets wanted, especially Lincoln Cents & type coins.

    "Keep in mind that most of what passes as numismatic information is no more than tested opinion at best, and marketing blather at worst. However, I try to choose my words carefully, since I know that you guys are always watching." - Joe O'Connor
  • gonzergonzer Posts: 3,052 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Anybody who sells good looking errors and classic MAD magazines is alright in my book! image
  • kieferscoinskieferscoins Posts: 10,017 ✭
    Its Back!

    Cameron Kiefer
  • BXBOY143BXBOY143 Posts: 1,110 ✭✭


    << <i>Its Back!

    Cameron Kiefer >>





    imageimageimage
    https://m.ebay.com.my/myebay?mfs=tabs&actionName=SELL_OVERVIEW
  • lope208lope208 Posts: 1,960 ✭✭
    I actually could put that in my album as a placeholder, at least for a few years until I can afford a whole one image

    With the entire date and most of the head, it's still attractive.
    Successful BST transactions:
    commoncents123, JrGMan2004, Coll3ctor (2), Dabigkahuna, BAJJERFAN, Boom, GRANDAM, newsman, cohodk, kklambo, seateddime, ajia, mirabela, Weather11am, keepdachange, gsa1fan, cone10
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