I bought this half at a local estate auction
After getting home i realized this coin has either been cleaned or is a fake > Im leaning towards counterfeit.


http://thriftdrop.com/DSCN5884.JPG

http://thriftdrop.com/DSCN5886.JPG

Why?

I myself am leaning towards a harshly cleaned original proof. From 1879-1891 these SL half dollars were minted in rather diminutive numbers, with a larger portion of that, about 20% of the mintage being proofs. In 1879 5,900 halves were struck in Philadelphia, and 1,100 of them were proofs. This coin appears to be one of those 1,100 proofs, that someone at some point decided needed to be harshly cleaned. As such it's value takes it down into the mid circulated grades for this piece.

Here is an image of my 1880 in proof for comparison:1880 Proof Half Dollar

It looks real to me, but has definitely been cleaned. Depending on what you paid, it's still a very nice coin though.

I agree.... an original coin... and it may or may not be a proof... Its hard to tell.

The reason i feel its a counterfeit is some oddities i noticed , like the leaf of the eagle at the 8 o'clock position is missing also the drape near her elbow is incomplete .

Genuine. Its a cleaned proof made from heavily polished dies. The squared off rims give away the proof status. The drapery under the elbow is the first thing to go when the dies are polished.

thats what i was leaning towards from the pics.... good score...

ok thanks for help . Sad tho some one cleaned it .Looks like a steel wool job =O

The question is, did you pay the price of a proof...even impaired proof for it? They list for around $3,000 is PR-65. Obviously this would be well below that because of the damage though. Perhaps impaired PF-60 since it is still UNC in terms of actual circulation?

Its still likely a $300 coin in this condition.

I bought it with other items, but it still cost me around 400.00 So im not that bad off . Next time ill bring my glasses =)

Toss it on eBay and your likely to double your money lol. People eat that stuff up regardless of condition.

I agree with gp & Dutchman -- but did you weigh it? Chinese counterfeits (that's almost being redundant) usually weigh far less than the real deal...