From the change box: This Barber Half has it all...(solved)...

glassman

I have my Grand Dads' change box from when he owned a small dry goods store, in rural Alabummer, in the '50s. He was in retail all his life and he always "put away" the interesting or unusual. For the most part, the coins are very well circulated and there aren't any big time surprises, but it is always a fun box to go through. It is really a funky type set box, as long as I look past all the PVC damage...example: plastic pill bottles were his favorite method of storage for the hundred, or so, IHC's.
Here is just one of the surprises I've found:

This 1906 O Barber half has it all:

First off, it is butt ugly to the maximum.
It has a wonderful patena of having the denticles filled with a simmering PVC hue.
Corrosion, tastefully placed around the fields and devices.
How about that booger at 8 o'clock on the reverse?
Have you seen such rim dings? And so intense and numerous...
Looking closely, you might get a hint of the bend traversing from 12 o'clock to 6 o'clock.
And, how about that reverse cameo effect! Can't wait to slab this sucker...at the morgue

( as the infomercials say) BUT THERE'S MORE?? ..........


I'll occasionally post other interesting finds from "the change box"

lordmarcovan

That would still make my day if I'd dug it, while out detecting.

I've only dug one Barber half- an AG 1894-O.

rhedden

I dug up a 1905-S half that looked like it got stepped on by more that a few horses.

mgoodm3

That's high on the ugly scale. almost as bad as SBA's

glassman

As I said in the original post, there's more to this ugly half.... here's a hint.

tjkillian

To me, it looks counterfeit. Is it real?

Tom

glassman

Tom,
Yep, you guessed correctly. It is counterfeit and a poorly cast one at that. What appears as corrosion on the obverse is apparently remnants of old plating. So my guess is possibly an electrotype/cast fake. Or it could just be cast. Other ideas are certainly welcome.

When struck with another coin there is a resounding Thunk.. nope, no ringing here.

The weight is 9.0 grams versus 12.5 grams for that year. The dia. is 1.21"

The pox on the neck, as seen from the photomicrograph, of the obverse, is from a very pitted mold.

The metal is certainly Not silver.. some type of pot metal, pewter?

The edge has poorly cast reeding, and also has a shabby attempt at hand cutting reeding where the spru was for the casting, maybe some of the rim dings were to hide the terrible reeding?

According to the PCGS book on grading and counterfeit detection, the Barber half dollars arevirtually free of counterfeits and alterations, other than some very poorly cast pieces....

So that makes this one a very rare fake... yeah right

Not a bad find in the "change box"

A reverse view:

ARCO

That is one ugly cast counterfeit! I was collecting cast counterfeits by date but gave up because the coins were a horror to look upon. The nicest I ever saw was an XF 1914-S. It was fake, but at least it didn't look like it was shat upon the earth by a large mule. LOL

Tyler

glassman

thankya..thankya very much.

This sucker is like the red headed step child of the change box, I wonder just when and how my grand dad found it? or did he take it in change, ouch