I came across an 1850-C, Type 1 Liberty Head in a consigment store tonight. The guy had just placed it out and it caught my attention. But before I describe to coin, my wife is away on a buisness trip and wasn't there to stop me from making a bad purchase. So if this sucker is a fake - it's all her fault!

First - does anyone know of any/many fakes on these type coins? 2nd, it seems to have a small (2-3mm long x 1mm wide) piece missing in the 5 o'clock position along the edge. It doesn't appear to be caused by damage but more like the piece "flaked" off. And yes, there is gold under the area and not another type metal - I at first thought it was a fake - lead covered with a gold layer. There are a few scratches in front of the face which detracts from the coin. Liberty is still well defined.

The reverse is average wear and around the mint mark there is some discoloration but the C is clear as bell.

NOW....the price was $45 I figure the gold value has to be at least that.

I'll try to take some nice pictures but the camera just won't zoom in enough.

So....a good buy or should my wife be held accountable?

I'll hold judgment until I see some pics. The chip,cud,lamination error sounds kinda fishy.

I am no expert on early branch mint gold, but for $45 I'd say you can't go wrong, especially since the melt value on a genuine gold dollar is about $35. In any case, I would send it to NCS or ANACS so that it can at least be authenticated. Once authenticated, this coin could easily be worth in the hundreds of dollars (Heritage sold a F-12 Ex-jewelry, polished and bent in 2005 for $322, a VF-30 Ex-Jewelry in 2006 for $431 and an EF-40 in February for $1,495). Can't wait to see the photos, Good Luck!

Since there's only one known set of dies for 1850-C Gold dollars, putting a pic up will give us a good idea if its real or not. I wouldn't get my hopes up though - this is a rare date. Lets see some pics!

All.....I showed to another guy in the office who is into collecting coins (but is not an expert either) and he says "yes, looks very real to me." I'm going to have pics taken tomorrow and hopefully have them up loaded by 9pm.

Ed

I place two photos on the coin in my only album but can't figure out how to post them in this message. Any help would be appreciated.

The photograph quality is poor. It doesn't look good to me, but that means nothing -- a better photograph is needed to make an informed judgment.

OmniCoin link.....account Mister_Ed

http://omnicoin.com/coin_view.aspx?id=923569


Still haven't figure out how to get the pics to show in this window...any helpers out there?

Ed

well from those pics its hard to tell.... it looks like it has a shot of being good... it also looks like it might have been in some sort of jewelry

In Omnicoin, select enlarge for the image and then CTRL - Click your mouse on a Mac with the cursor over the picture and select copy image location or (right or left, I don't know which) click on a PC and copy the image location. In replying in Coin People, select the little icon to the right of the envelop over the text window. That will open a dialog box for a http entry. Paste into that box and select okay. If you want to be sure the image is there, select Preview Post at the bottom of the reply window. If it looks okay and you are ready to post, don't forget to select Add Reply.

The Omnicoin image is better, but the details are still too indistinct to be sure about the coin from the photograph alone.

Based on the images I see, it looks legit, but this is a rare date coin and a better image would be more indicative of it's authenticity.

All: I solved the problem....I posted the pics on my own page. Here is the link:

http://www.goodrow.us/coin.html

Hopefully the pics will be clear enough. The last pic is a close up of the mint mark, not as clear as I would like but I think you will be able to see the C.

Next question....if I send this coin off to a grading company, will they clean the coin -especially around the mint mark or would I have to do this myself?

I've never had a coin worth sending in, which company is best? Cost? Will dealers handle the shipment or can I mail it myself?

Thanks, I really appreciate your patience and help.

Ed

I've seen a few cast copies of $1 gold coins, but not of any rare date like the 1850 C. One thing you might like to do is to go back to the seller and see if he has put another one out for sale.

The last time I saw what turned out to be fake $1 gold coins was when a neighbor showed me two he'd gotten somewhere and they were identical.

First have it weighed and tested to see if it's .900 gold before you go through the expense of sending it away -- also check the diameter.

See if this works

The pictures are just not clear enough to tell if it's a fake or if it's been abused in Jewelry. I would spend the $30 or $40 or whatever the cost and send it to ANACS or NCS for authentication and details grading. That way you would know for sure.

Congrats, tommy, for posting the biggest pic I've ever seen on CP.

Are those scratches below the chin someone checking to see if it's legitimate gold?

That's some freakin' sloppy check! Not to mention value-killing!
Well, what do I know? Maybe it's the only, way, I know zip about gold coins, but it just seems like a really...unprofessional way of doing it

Double post...

I had a dealer tell me in 1969 to NEVER buy a $1 gold coin unless it was authenticated and slabbed PRIOR to my buying it as they are the most counterfeited gold coin in the world. Since then I made the mistake of buying one! It was a counterfeit! I wouldn't touch this coin with a ten foot pole unless the seller guaranteed in writing a full refund if it came back from a 3rd party grading service in a body bag. Remember the old saying, "if it looks to good to be true, then it probably is NOT!" While it is really exciting to think once in a while we can stumble on to something outstanding at a thrilling price I would not expect it in gold!

I had a dealer tell me in 1969 to NEVER buy a $1 gold coin unless it was authenticated and slabbed PRIOR to my buying it as they are the most counterfeited gold coin in the world. Since then I made the mistake of buying one! It was a counterfeit! I wouldn't touch this coin with a ten foot pole unless the seller guaranteed in writing a full refund if it came back from a 3rd party grading service in a body bag. Remember the old saying, "if it looks to good to be true, then it probably is NOT!" While it is really exciting to think once in a while we can stumble on to something outstanding at a thrilling price I would not expect it in gold!

I didn't know they were slabbing coins back in 1969

It's real!!!!!

Got the coin back from ANACS today!!! They grade it as AU-50, struck thru, cleaned, scratched.

$47 for the coin, $40 to ANACS not a bad $87 dollar investment!! Now what to do with it???

Wow! That's incredible!!! Heritage has only sold 11 in the last 5 years, the most recent one in March (ANACS Cleaned AU-53) for $2,530. Yours might be in that neighborhood, though if you choose to sell, this one would probably be handled best by one of the large auction houses that can attract collectors of rare dates and southern gold. Excellent story and congratulations!

WOW!

Great find. Its nice to hear good coin related news!

Congratulations! Great find, big risk, bigger payoff.

Congratulations. I'd love to find a Charlotte or Dahlonega gold piece someday. My theory on them is that there are probably several hidden hoards which include most of them that still exist, put away by Richmond bankers when Richmond fell in 1865. Merchants fled the city headed west ahead of the army.

With my luck, one of the hoards will turn up on my land when I get around to buying a metal detector. My place is bordered on the east by an old unused roadbed which may have been in use that spring when the ANV was falling back to Amelia Courthouse from Five Forks.

When I turn some up I'll be sure to post some pics here. ;-)

If you want, 28, just let me know where west of Richmond I should look and I'll take out my detector next time I'm home. I'll let you know if theres part of a hoard I don't have enough room in my car for.

If your ever interested in trying your luck your more than welcome to use one of my machines. Whatever we find of course belongs to you. I just love recovering history.

I took my surf detector to Virginia Beach this week. 144 coins and one very, very nice ring! Will have to wait till Tuesday to see if the rocks are diamonds or fakes but the wife thinks they are real diamonds...let's hope!!

Now, that would be a big hoard, wouldn't it? ;-)

I'll see about getting in touch with you this fall after the first frost. This place is a chigger metropolis and warm weather is their time of year.

Hope the diamonds turn out to be real. That sounds like a great day's haul.