A Counterfeit 1916-D Mercury Dime and Bad Slab – Jack Young’s Fun With Fakes

By Jack D. Young, Early American Coppers (EAC), and the Dark Side Group ……
 

This latest installment’s star is a counterfeit 1916-D Mercury Dime in a fake “PCGS” slab. My friends at NGC list the ’16-D as the second-most counterfeited coin just behind the 1909-S V.D.B. Lincoln Cent.

With a Red Book reported mintage of only 264,000 and a current value of $1,200 in the grade of G4, it is without doubt the key to the series and a “must-have“ for many collectors.

As with previous Fun With Fakes articles, this one begins with a recent eBay listing.

Starting with attribution, the following is a template of the four known mintmarks and mintmark locations for genuine examples:

So, a swing and a miss. Both the position and the shape of the “D” are off from any known genuine example.

Then on to the slab. A good certification number in the PCGS database, the online cert did not have a TrueView image (a favorite of the counterfeiters) but it did reference a past auction in which the cert number had appeared. Clicking that link led to Heritage’s images of the genuine example – another big swing and miss!

Just a note, the obverse barcode of the counterfeit slab did read correctly, the only thing they seem to have gotten right!

So, bad “coin”, bad slab… What else could possibly go wrong? Time for the twist!

I am curious if the readers caught the second label apparently added to the slab. I have put together an image from the seller’s photos as follows:

A GreatCollections lot ID sticker/label!

Talking with my friends at that company, I was able to search the example this was initially attached to, an NGC-slabbed 1926 Merc Dime:

Note: the listing for this counterfeit 1916-D Mercury Dime was ended by the seller after a brief conversation. I am always curious if the seller/owner knows he or she is peddling a fake. The GreatCollections sticker added from another slab is interesting, though.

And so ends another episode of Fun With Fakes. This column really is a labor of love and would not be possible without the support and advice of an army of friends and family. If the reader agrees that these articles are worthwhile and good for the hobby, please let CoinWeek know – the effort can never get enough likes or messages!

Best as Always,

—Jack

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