Real or Fake? 1914-D Lincoln Cent

BustHalfBrian

AUandAG

Hmmm, looks good to me. Slight doubling in the mint mark.

bob

morgandollar1878

Looks genuine to me, matter of fact it looks to be double struck in collar. Very cool!!!

Edited to add that after reading FW's comments I went back to the pics and took a closer and slower look from my laptop at the marks that he was referring to and am suspicious that this could be a counterfeit struck on a genuine cent. I gotta quit looking at things like this on my phone.

PTVETTER

Who ever owns it should get the green stuff off

FredWeinberg

Enlarge the photo - I see casting marks
on the lower left shoulder area.

(and I also see what looks like a D/S in the
collar, with a slight rotation, but it doesn't
look like a normal D/S in the collar to me)

Although the coin looks "OK" in the photo,
please enlarge it, and look closely at all of
the raised marks and lines.

I don't deal in 14-D cents any more, but
I don't recall seeing that effect on them.
....l could be wrong.

lkenefic

Based on the images, it looks legit. However, as @PTVETTER points out, those green spots (obv and rev) give me pause for concern.

mustangmanbob

I am the farthest from an expert, but 2 things:

1) The "scrape" mark where a "normal" mint mark would be is disconcerting. Is there a know die that had the D so far down?

2) Does the obverse and reverse match a know die pair?

For the $$ involved, I would pay expert (s) certification.

scubafuel

I am in the fake camp on this one, but am no expert. I don't like the raised die lines on the bust and behind, the folded metal at the rims, the "in collar one-sided double strike" or the mushy detail on what looks to be an unc coin. However, there are some points in the coin's favor as well and its worth having it graded. Pretty cool coin if genuine!

lkenefic

@mustangmanbob said:

For the $$ involved, I would pay expert (s) certification.

I agree! This and the 09-S VDB are among some of the most counterfeited coins out there. Authentication is very desirable.

shorecoll

If fake, it's a nice touch having the green stuff on there.

ChrisH821

I wouldn't buy that. Inside shape of the D is all wrong. Details look like that of a 1940s-50s hub, not an early teens one. This tooling looks awfully suspect too. I've got $5 on fake

cmerlo1

Edited to add- ChrisH beat me to it!!!

Gotta go with my inner voice on this one and say not genuine, for 2 reasons:

1. The shape of the D looks off to me.
2. The Lincoln bust looks like a later one from the 40's or 50's. I would expect a LOT more detail in a 1914. The lines on the shoulder could be the result of trying to obscure the VDB that would be on a later bust.

BustHalfBrian

Thanks all. PCGS called it counterfeit. Now I see why. I didn't see the tooling before.

Insider2

The first thing that an authenticator would probably notice (besides a sharp, shiny edge - I'll bet) is the shape of the "D" mintmark. The wavy area above the motto indicates C/F also. The tool marks on the bust indicate one of the older c/f's. Did anyone notice it is double struck?

If this were put in an album of high grade Lincoln's it would pass as genuine to many.

mr1931S

The "D" is all wrong. Wrong shape and in the wrong place.

BillJones

Fake. Lincoln’s hair is poorly defined for this early Lincoln issue

1Mike1

I wouldn't put any of my money into it. I'm not convinced it is authentic.

Hemispherical

Hope tuition was at the Community College level and not Harvard.

ChrisH821

Excellent pictures by the way

lkenefic

Thats why I bought mine already in a holder and never cracked it! I'd rather pay the price of admission than the cost of tuition!

ifthevamzarockin

Very nice counterfeit, thanks for sharing!

1Mike1

@BustHalfBrian said:
Thanks all. PCGS called it counterfeit. Now I see why. I didn't see the tooling before.

woops didn't see this before I answered. I hope you were able to return it.

GoldenEgg

That's an awesome looking counterfeit though.... what is the consensus? False dies over genuine cent?

mannie gray

Counterfeit.
The D is wrong and the style of the bust and portrait are off.

topstuf

Here's my real one WITH A BEAN!!!!

ricko

Late to the game... but was convinced it was counterfeit.... several points already mentioned...Cheers, RickO

BillJones

To expand on my "Fake coin" judgement, I read an on-line article on Chinese fakes. This piece looked a lot like a 1958-P cent the Chinese have made.

Can you believe it? A coin with almost no numismatic value is a target of their counterfeiting activities.

MonsterCoinz

Looks fake as a spray tan to me. The hair looks completely wrong.

batumi

Late to the game, but I saw no one mentioned the '1' in '1914' being too tall. Plus the scrapes or tooling others have posted, I haven't seen on Lincolns of any date. Also, my initial opinion was that the coin just didn't look 'right'.

asheland

Great thread! I noticed the raised lines right away.. Alarm bells immediately.

Namvet69

Hope all the students were paying attention! This game is looking for someone who drank the koolaid. Peace Roy

lkenefic

@GoldenEgg said:
That's an awesome looking counterfeit though.... what is the consensus? False dies over genuine cent?

Hmmmm.... interesting question. I'm just on my phone, my laptop is in for repairs, but there exists imaging software to superimpose the cent in the OP and those from Coinfacts... That said, I was able to go back and enlarge the image enough to see a bunch of hairlines all over the field. They just seemed to blend in with the toning

PerryHall

Looks like a die struck counterfeit probably on an unstruck cent planchet which are fairly easy to find..

ldhair

A friend of mine over on CT ask me to post these images.

crazyhounddog

I was going to say the mintmark looks odd to me but I can’t see you guys are on top of it. Good call with the tooling 👌🏻

PTVETTER

I think it’s real, but what do I know
It may have been played with but real?
I hope it gets graded and we find out for real!
Dumb me I didn’t read all the post before PCGS called it C/F
My bad!!!!!

davewesen

@ldhair said:
A friend of mine over on CT ask me to post these images.

it looks like the same obverse die - extra line below the 9 of the year and doubled profile

ChrisH821

@ldhair said:
A friend of mine over on CT ask me to post these images.

Struck from the same set of fake dies as the coin in the OP.

vs

BuffaloIronTail

Altered and die struck. It's easy to comment after reading everyone's good posts. I'll add the following:

The inside of the"D" should have an angled look to it on the right. Sure does look like the "V.D.B." was tooled off, and yes, Lincoln looks less detailed then a coin from 1914.

Out of the 7 dies that Denver used to produce this coin, one, maybe 2 show real detail on Lincoln. 14-D was not struck well as a rule.

I took a cursory look at this coin and initially thought it was genuine, then I read the comments and saw the alterations.

It is a good fake.

Pete

lkeigwin

Here's another fake I found in an estate I bought 10 years ago. An obvious "added MM".

I haven't tried acetone to dissolve any glue used. I wonder if I could pry it off with a plastic putty knife.
Lance.

1Mike1

@batumi said:
Late to the game, but I saw no one mentioned the '1' in '1914' being too tall. Plus the scrapes or tooling others have posted, I haven't seen on Lincolns of any date. Also, my initial opinion was that the coin just didn't look 'right'.

The 1's being too tall is exactly what made me lean towards not authentic. The rough area in the shoulder made me think possibly a newer coin that had the VDB removed was used as a planchet to press over. The visible doubling or ghosting also made me think a genuine coin was pressed over top of.

burfle23

Image of this one and the other forum example's reverses:

Kind of like "where's Waldo", but easier...

AUandAG

I sure missed it. Did not notice the tooling....in hand would sure be better to see. Send to me please, just PM for my address.

bob

Elcontador

This is why I never bought one in the pre-slabbing days. In the legitimate 14 D, note that the D is almost right under the 9, and tilts ever so slightly to the left. It also doesn't have the tails that you see on the dark fake coin.

1Mike1

I like these kind of threads. A real learning opportunity for a lot of folks. Lets you sharpen your skills along with others.

dcarr

The tooling on the shoulder and lack of beard details indicate a non-US-Mint origin.

dcarr

@lkeigwin said:
Here's another fake I found in an estate I bought 10 years ago. An obvious "added MM".

I haven't tried acetone to dissolve any glue used. I wonder if I could pry it off with a plastic putty knife.
Lance.

I wouldn't automatically condemn that one. Very late die states can sometimes look like that.

lkeigwin

@dcarr said:

@lkeigwin said:
Here's another fake I found in an estate I bought 10 years ago. An obvious "added MM".

I haven't tried acetone to dissolve any glue used. I wonder if I could pry it off with a plastic putty knife.
Lance.

I wouldn't automatically condemn that one. Very late die states can sometimes look like that.

First $100 gets it!
Lance.

Lulo90

that coin even has the hole in his head. Nice touch.

burfle23

Found an example from a past NGC article on counterfeit '14-D's and it appears to have a couple of matching marks. A friend in another forum did an overlay of the date/mm area of the subject coin of this post and this example:

giorgio11

The inside of the mintmark should be triangular on genuine pieces, in addition to the many other warning signs.

Kind regards,

George