Home U.S. Coin Forum

The Importance of Varieties. Identifying Counterfeit 1872-S Half Dollars

ZoinsZoins Posts: 34,113 ✭✭✭✭✭
edited November 25, 2021 10:11AM in U.S. Coin Forum

If you think you don't need to know your varieties and mint mark locations, think again!

Here's a great article on two certified 1872-S half dollar that were confounding variety researchers, both Jack D. Young and members of the Liberty Seated Collectors Club!

Independently, the coins looked good except for that fact that the mint mark could not be attributed to the 1872-S dollars. Does this mean a new discovery or something fishy? It turns out the mint mark is from an 1875-S coin!

Here are the known 1872-S mintmark locations:

In all:

Jack D. Young wrote:
Discussions with the experts made it clear why I was having issues with this one, as the reverse was all wrong for the date – it was from an 1875-S! Technically, the obverse was from an 1872-P by die state, and the reeding count of the edge was from an 1876!

This coin was finally identified as a counterfeit due to repeating circulation marks on the two specimens.

Jack D. Young wrote:
The use of common circulation marks for identifying struck fakes has been practiced for decades, but it is easier now with the ability to search the internet auction archives and selling venues for similar examples, a huge step forward in counterfeit identification.

If the same host coin is being used for all 3 sides of the coin, it seems some of these coins can only be found of the repeating circulation marks.

Interesting discussion and commentary on the state of counterfeit production.

Would love to hear comments, and especially from @burfle23 and @Coinosaurus!

An interesting question is locating the genuine 1872-S "host coin". Anyone find this?

Comments

Leave a Comment

BoldItalicStrikethroughOrdered listUnordered list
Emoji
Image
Align leftAlign centerAlign rightToggle HTML viewToggle full pageToggle lights
Drop image/file