extant4cell

I am glad you got your money back. One other suggestion is that this coin had lots of small corrosion cavities that were repaired with cuprite that later started to swell and sticking out like tiny copper droplets...

Here is it's sister:

I am not saying that it's the same stamp, I am showing that the line inside 3 in a date 1853 is exactly were one side of 1 was in 1851... That is to support that re-cut from a different 1851 stamp to 1853 is possible and even most probable as the chance of splitting the die in this spot would be so remote, as for me to jump out of bed barefooted and land right inside my work shoes bypassing my slippers...

Both don't look like modern fakes. Most probably casting fakes. Another wild suggestion - experimenting with a ring in order to make coins more circular after edging at the time of pressing?

On Russian forum some believe that it may be not an overdate, but a stamp crack, because the 1 would be too far away. I doubted that and made this little image combination that shows that one of "1"s edges should be exactly where the line in "3" is visible. I'll go with you on this one. The idea of it being a novodel made with original date re-cut stamps was also not supported there. I will not insist on that. Here it is:

First time I'd wish I could edit the images: http://www.rnumis.com/rnumis_research_0.php?db_pgtyp=db_pgtyp_rf_single&rf_id=402

Certainly nothing like this:

Mastic film... protects it. Don't ask me why they did it. Most collectors will not like that. I don't like this sort of artificial protection, although there are same examples of ancient coins that may need to use it, so I keep a bottle clear coin protective product in my box as well. I wouldn't use it on any of my Russian coins though, it would ruin the look. I have maybe 2-3 coins with this protection that I bough like that at some stage, it ruins the look.

Here is one of the examples: http://www.rnumis.com/rnumis_research_0.php?db_pgtyp=db_pgtyp_rf_single&rf_id=387 or like this: http://www.rnumis.com/rnumis_research_0.php?db_pgtyp=db_pgtyp_rf_single&rf_id=441

OK, this was a nice "theory" that I described, which may have some sense, but now I am more inclined to say it is a fake coin. Here is an example of a forgery coin that I was shown and I just added to the database: http://www.rnumis.com/rnumis_research_0.php?db_pgtyp=db_pgtyp_rf_single&rf_id=386 It has a similar edge problem...

The Shiryakov report says that it has protective, preserving cover. This may smudge the image.

Pretty much. The collectable forgeries. Mostly they are not in any catalogs as they are not exactly numismatic material, but they may have influenced the numismatics by their existence.

Do you know what was its diameter?

I discussed this resource on Russian forum in the section "fakes". There are some people there that collect counterfeits that were circulated around the same time as the originals. Some forgeries are very rare and even more expensive then the real coins. Their request was to separate the counterfeits that were made later to fool collectors (fakes) from the counterfeits made for circulation (forgeries). Some believe that forgeries are important to numismatics. I do not exactly share this view. I'd prefer to keep only one database. What do you think of this? I offered them to review database later and add comments to coins they believe are important to that branch of "numismatics". So far I had no takers....

I am not completely convinced that it is a fake, but I didn't had a chance to handle it...

Could it be a Novodel? Giving the Shiryakov's comment that the surface is polished and that coins are in a really good state...

It's only the body, you provided technology! When I flip through it, it's like a shrine to people's greed and stupidity, but in some cases the latest can really be forgiven... You can almost use it as a guide to collecting fakes. LOL ...

It does feel a little fishy, but I don't believe it is fake. Overdate is possible, and not criminal, still a proper coin. Bobh and Steve, well spotted! It does look like overdate. Also the BM looks a little different from other 1853's. That explains why!

It's a horribly complicated process. You have to have high ceilings for that process, like about 4 meters high. I was only a helper and we did it for fun. It tested nothing like caviar, but looked impressively similar. Just like some of the fake coins.

General consensus - coin in the first post is a fake...

I inclined to believe the official statement in the paper by Shiryakov. It is a real and interesting coin. The other interesting thing about it, as I was just told, that it is being for sale over 4 year on russian "ebay" molotok.ru ... It is somewhat a record. I didn't see it yet, but am told that the price is pretty astronomical. Here is for a comparison: Thank you for looking into it...

This is not an extremely clear example, but I'd say it is a fake. I am not going to be passing quick judgement on this one though. I had a few drinks now, so, let me come back to it later. Uneven toning is possible on a real coin as well, it's the stamp qualities that we need to assess as Alix rightfully noted. I am yet to compare it to the known fakes, if I find some. Here is one example for you to compare to, it is a real coin: Cheers!

Over 300 "coins" in the database already and more to come. I have another 60+ to add from my image collection before I look for more somewhere else... Some of the fakes are of a high quality, look good, if I may say that, and very dangerous. I'd stop for now, have some people over and drink a little. These fakes have negative energy that I need to shake off...

On CFN the opinion is that the coin is OK.

No idea. All three photos from the same sale on auction some 4 years ago. I didn't see any criminal there, but one person did, dividing the opinions. I still think it is a real coin, but kept these picture in my "questionable" archive. As I am adding picture of the fake coins to http://www.rnumis.com/rnumis_research_0.php?db_pgtyp=db_pgtyp_rf_gallery&rfsort=1 now, I came across this coin again, and would like to solve its authenticity once and for all. If there is interest to read 4 years old thread on one of than populated Russian forums, it's here: http://rucoin.ru/forum/index.php?showtopic=39941&mode=linear