A couple NEWPs I need help with... Australian and Italian

Pokermandude

1962 Australian penny. Is this a proof? It was labelled as such on the holder. In the same collection there is also a 1/2 penny and 3 pence which have a similar look. They almost look whizzed? All three have strike weakness on the obverse like this one.





1928 Italy 20 Lire. The more I look at it, the more I think it's no good. The close up on the lettering is just way off compared to certified examples I have seen. A shame, since it is a high grade unc. Maybe someone can convince me it's worth sending in?

lordmarcovan

I don't think your Aussie penny is whizzed. Might be cleaned, but looks mostly OK to me. Definitely not a proof, though.



I could be wrong, but the Italian 20-lire piece looks OK to me, too. Sure, those tiny letters in the designer's name are a bit wonky looking, but that could happen as a result of die fatigue or an imperfect strike, I believe. I've seen this sort of thing before on coins with teeny-tiny letters.



Someone will no doubt correct me if I am wrong on either count.

coinkat

The 1962 penny is not a proof-

The question as to whether the Italian 20L is genuine is an excellent question. First, I would grab a scale and weigh it. The mintage figure for this coin is high- I believe it is over 3 million or close to that. It does have the look of being too good to be true, but some high grade Italian coins from this time exist. There does look to be signs of die polishing between the M and I as well as around the helmut which seems to be a plus. I understand your concern as there are some excellent counterfeits.

I don't know if that is genuine or not just by looking at the picture.

lordmarcovan

Wow, I just looked that Italian one up. Didn't realize it was such a tough coin. I suppose that does make counterfeiting a concern.



I still say it looks OK to me- if it's counterfeit, it's a pretty sophisticated one- but yes, definitely worth sending in for confirmation.



Isn't Krause UNC somewhere around $1K for that? (I just briefly looked at the NGC page online.)



Good for you if that's the real McCoy and you get an MS grade from a TPG.

coinkat

I don't have the current Krause but I suspect it is over $1K

mnemtsas2

Yeah, as above. Penny definitely not a proof. It doesn't look whizzed and looks very much like many other Perth minted pennies of the era that I have seen.

coinnerd

There are a lot of good counterfeits of this era Italian coinage. I nearly got caught with one. coinkat is correct about weighing it. Also look for some raised bumps of metal. I think I see one on the neck and one in front of the mustache. These bumps raise a flag to me. If the weight is even .2 gram light it is probably fake.

Dave

I was trying to link to an old thread where I was describing the 1936 20L KM81 that I owned and found was a fake.

Pokermandude

The weight is dead on at 20 grams. There are a couple very small raised bumps of metal on the obverse. One on the neck, one down and left from the ear.

coinkat

Well, I suppose you could go to the Heritage Auction Archives and look at some that have sold-

Pokermandude

I took a look and did find a few with some similar features, not not as badly distorted as mine. Also, I have not come across even one example (authentic or counterfeit) with the same (or any) die break that mine has at 10:30 on the reverse.

coinkat

I noticed the die break as well- I would submit the coin