By Jack D. Young, Early American Coppers (EAC), and the Dark Side Group ……
The subject of this installment of the exclusive CoinWeek series starts with this example of an 1833 half dollar counterfeit from eBay.
The “coin” looked like a bad cast, with pimples and lumps on the surface and features that were not fully filled out, especially on the reverse. And the slab didn’t look much better.
A couple of at-a-glance problems with this one are the obvious grade issue, its labeling as a dollar, and the missing “PCGS” logo on the lower front right corner of the slab.
In many cases of bad coins and fake slabs, the cert number used is of an example without any reference images. This is not the case for this one, and we are able to compare this counterfeit to the genuine example.
Not even close, with the date and Liberty’s profile off to the eye!
The reverse is off as well.
And continued searching lead to images of the actual PCGS slab; I’m surprised the counterfeiters didn’t try to make a fake “green bean” as well.
Continued research led to a second 1833 half dollar counterfeit listed on the German eBay site!
Same bad “coin” and slab. The barcode on these also won’t scan.
I notified the TPG about these and the cert number used through their CU forum and through my contacts; the cert was deactivated.
So, with a really bad “coin,” bad “PCGS” slab, and deactivated cert, what could possibly go wrong going forward?
How about a recent ‘ay listing without the slab!
This one was gone prior to a sale, but of course we should see more in the future, in my humble opinion.
In fact, continued searching lead to another of our favorite selling venues and the following example; obviously no end in sight…
They seem proud of their fake edges, and I’m OK with that.
And now a twist!
Seems there are “friends” with the same profile and reverse available in the marketplace. I nicknamed them the “1833 class” counterfeits.
This one, unfortunately, showed sold:
Different date listing, 1824:
And an 1836 dated example:
And basically, a common reverse for this “class”:
And, the no-end-in-sight reality: file images of other Etsy examples:
As always, stay safe out there!
Best,
—Jack
MORE Articles on Counterfeit Coins by Jack D. Young
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