need help with identification - 1774 halfpenny evasion? something else?

OregonCityGold

(copied from lightside post)

Hello fellow fourm members!

Anyone know what this is? I've never been sure what I'm looking at with these George III coppers. Is this an evasion, contemporary counterfeit, regal halfpenny, or something else? Whatever it is, any thoughts about value? I've got $5 in it, so you won't hurt my feelings if it's totally worthless. All that I've come up with is that I don't think it's a Machins Mills, but only because the style doesn't look like I remember those are supposed to look, not because of any real concrete reason. It weighs about 8.2 grams, and has (up arrow) (down arrow) die alignment, if you know what I mean, and is about 20* rotated from that. It looks like it might be overstruck on something (what, I don't know). It also looks like it has mint red in the protected areas. That possible mint red is what made me think it might one of those contemporary counterfeits made to look worn. Anyway, I'm more lost than usual on this one.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

RobP

It's unquestionably counterfeit, but I'll leave it to the specialists as to which variety it is. The colour suggests it has probably been cleaned in more recent times.

OregonCityGold

Thanks. I wouldn't be surprised if the "mint red" is cleaning, but the color was off in my first pics. Here are some more pics that better represent the color of the coin...

coachleonard

worth a good deal more than $5--are you kidding? Just look at that condition! I would also say clearly a contemporary counterfeit, probably British-made, though many of those filtered over to Colonial America. Differs from strict "evansions" in that the legends read accurately and are not bogus like "George Rules" or something.