1776 Pewter Continental "CURENCY"
ilmcoins
Posts: 525 ✭✭✭✭
There is an interesting back story behind this one. If it is fake it had to have been made many years ago based on the timeline I was given.
Not my coin or photos. Just curious about it and if it appears that it might be legit.
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It's a copy and not a particularly good one.
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
Thanks! :-)
I have several of these from the Bicentennial. Not high quality, and clearly a copy, but not marked as such.
There is an interesting back story behind this one. If it is fake it had to have been made many years ago based on the timeline I was given.
Judging that the coin itself is a bad fake, you should also consider that the "interesting back story" is made-up hogwash which should be a statement about whoever gave it to you.
Just an ugly copy
BHNC #203
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you know, i've been wondering with some issues like this that some of us don't see in-hand very often.
what are the odds of mistaking a genuine piece that has say, been in the ground and now looks fugly, with something that looks like the piece in the op? i'm presuming the weight will be quite a bit different or something else would give it away?
It's a modern fake/replica that was most likely not meant to deceive anyone in numismatics. By "modern" I mean something likely made in the 1960s or 1970s and sold at any number of museums, historical sites, flea markets or five-and-dime stores. These were often packaged in groups with other historical replicas and/or fake/replica currency, as well. I don't know why the story has not been shared, but these are common, common, common.
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
Sometimes it’s difficult to be certain whether a particular piece is a copy. This is not one such occasion.
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
I would say "slim to none". The piece in the op looks nothing like a ground find.
I recall a story (from forum member @Pistareen, I think) where a genuine but very low grade Continental Dollar walked into a show and they were able to authenticate it without a second thought because it was "right" in every way.
Some counterfeits are intended to deceive. This isn't one of them.
You may recall the story of the 1913 Liberty nickel that was called counterfeit for 50 years.
I would see these fake ones at shows out west when I lived there. They were treated as novelties, none were offered as real. Oh, there were real ones, but they were usually slabbed. Cheers, RickO
For those interested in current research of "genuine" 1776 Continental "Dollars" I highly recommend a series of articles in The Numismatist on this subject. The latest is "The Myth of the Continental Dollar Part 4"..."Evidence indicates that the design of the mysterious 18th-century issue appears to have originated in Germany."
Since reading about the Continental Dollar in The Numismatist articles, I have come to the conclusion that this piece is massively overrated and over priced. The Comitia Americana medals are far more desirable.
I had a dealer asking almost $200,000 for one at one of the FUN shows. I thought the price was out of line then, and I think that it's WAY out of line now.