1914 barber half from coworker’s father’s estate

DNADave

A coworker of mine recently lost her father at 93. Her mother had passed many years ago but worked at a bank, saving interesting coins. While going through the fathers estate, they found the can of coins kept by her mother.
Anyhow, there were 6 or so common Morgan and peace dollars and a few silver halves..... and this.

Boosibri

Cast counterfeit

CoinHoarder

For comparison:

amwldcoin

YIKES!

TomB

As mentioned, appears counterfeit.

ricko

Yep... appears to be cast.... may or may not be silver, check that out. Cheers, RickO

scubafuel

Could be counterfeit or exposed to a strong corrosive chemical. Some of the lettering is thin which commonly shows when the metal gets eaten away.

silverpop

could be either real or fake chances are good for either one

advice: have an expert look it over and that way you have some idea of what you have

Jimnight

Treashunt

interesting fake.

I like it

JBN

@Treashunt said:
interesting fake.

I like it

Though you won't get the 1914 P money for it, the coin does retain some value as an interesting counterfeit.

SaorAlba

A bit before my great great grandfather started his mint in 1917 so I know it wasn't his creation.

AUandAG

I had a banker once that was an avid coin collector (my loss) and he also snagged all the counterfeits he could. He was the bank founder & president and all the employees were well aware to get the good stuff to him. He died long ago and I often wondered what happened to his "collection" of fakes.

bob

Crypto

I am going to buck the consensus and say it is a real heavily circulated and fire damaged half that has toned a bit since the fire. That said if it was fake I wouldn’t be shocked

Crypto

I’ll leave my previous post up but the more I look at it I think the Obv letters say cast fake

291fifth

It could be either a cast fake or an acid etched genuine coin. Close, in person, analysis would be needed. Regardless, it probably isn't worth bothering with.

MFeld

@silverpop said:
could be either real or fake chances are good for either one

advice: have an expert look it over and that way you have some idea of what you have

How can chances be good for “either one”?

dcarr

I believe the 1914 half dollar is genuine, but heavily wire-brushed (which forms ripples on the surface).
As such, the value is considerably limited. But I believe that it is still made of silver, at least.

privatecoin

Possible fire damage....

bsshog40

I would presume that a cast fake would have some sort of pitting. I'm in the damaged coin group. Also, can cast counterfeits have die cracks?

MrEureka

If the coin rings true, it's probably a real coin that has been acid etched. And if that's the case, it's likely that it was intentionally bathed in acid to hide evidence of a removed mintmark. Not that we'll ever know for sure, but that's what I'd do.

Namvet69

Pmd in the extreme. Peace Roy

Dave99B

Weird! Possibly real, and pitted from being buried?

Dave

Eldorado9

Not fire damaged:

mothra454

But it is en fuego!!

MrEureka

@Eldorado9 said:
Not fire damaged:

I'm impressed with your work! I didn't think it would take color that well, and the surface pitting is much less obvious!

Pokermandude

Fake.

Eldorado9

@MrEureka said:

@Eldorado9 said:
Not fire damaged:

I'm impressed with your work! I didn't think it would take color that well, and the surface pitting is much less obvious!

Your a funny one Eureka! Yes, it's a special ceramic glaze I use, bake for 1 day at 2000 degrees and wala.....a Proof 67+ CAC'ed Barber!

Treashunt

@JBN said:

@Treashunt said:
interesting fake.

I like it

Though you won't get the 1914 P money for it, the coin does retain some value as an interesting counterfeit.

of course not the 1914's value, but still an interesting fake.