We had a number of responses to Rick A’s input last week of an odd half dime.
James Rosen wrote:
Rick,
You have probably heard from a number of people that your 1833 half dime is no good. Star 1 is in a position related to the bust that is not present in any obverse dies of 1833, not even close. The date numerals look very suspicious in their engraving, especially the 3s. Without going into too much detail about the reverse, the 2nd S in States is way too far left of the s in Pluribus to match any of the known 33 reverses. The shape of the letters is not right, especially the last A in America. The position of the 2nd C is wrong, as none of the 1833 reverses have this C touching the stem. I can’t comment about some of the other letters in the coin as the photo is not all that great, but you have enough bad things going on with this coin to make a definitive diagnosis.
Sorry you got burned…but hopefully the seller has a return policy.
Jim Rosen
JRCS # 1510
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Alan Bricker wrote:
In response to Rick A.'s post in the February 2nd issue, I can affirm from the pictures that this 1833 half dime is a fairly obvious counterfeit: zero circulation indicators, mushy numerals and letters, non-compliant date punches, and so forth. The reverse resembles Reverse V, which was used only with one die marriage of 1834-dated half dimes. In the November 24th issue of JRNewsletter, I reported on a counterfeit 1832-dated half dime having the same counterfeit reverse paired with a counterfeit obverse not matching any genuine obverse die. The current case is very similar, having a known counterfeit reverse and a non-compliant 1833-dated obverse. This piece is very likely to be significantly underweight, and I conclude that both counterfeits likely originated from one source.
Alan Bricker
Alan Bricker
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Randall Snyder wrote:
Definitely a counterfeit half dime. The seller also has an 1835 and 1837 for sale. All 3 share the same diagnostic points.
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And Rick A wrote back (after corresponding with the seller):
See below for the seller’s response. Yesterday he listed an 1835 & 1837 bust half dime. These two also have the same reverse & condition of the 1833 and also don’t match any known variety!!! The seller is from Newport News, VA. He also sold a 1967 3C silver on Saturday that went for around $200 which I believe was also counterfeit and the “8” is much smaller than usual.
AM TOTALLY UNSURE OF WHAT YOU ARE SAYING!!! SO I HAVE BEEN IN THE JEWELRY/METALS/COIN BUSINESS FOR 40 YEARS, I HAVE BOUGHT AND SOLD ANYTHING FROM A SIMPLE 1909SVDB LINCOLN, TO A COMPLETE SET OF MORGAN DOLLARS... NEVER BEFORE HAVE I HEARD OF SUCH A THING AS SEEING A PHOTO OF AN ITEM AND THEN DECIDING THAT IT IS A REPLICA AND OR FAKE EXAMPLE... I ALSO KNOW HOW TO CHECK ITEMS WHEN I AM PURCHASING THEM!!! THESE COINS WERE RESEARCHED, MEASURED, WEIGHED, AND INSPECTED FOR DETAILS OF DATES, DATE SIZE, DENOMINATION, AND SIZE OF DENOMINATION MARKS, COMPOSITION, ECT ECT ECT!!! ALL SPECS CAME BACK JUST FINE!!! I ALSO PERSONALLY LOOKED ON HERITAGE AND FOUND SAID SAME EXAMPLES!!! AND I RECOMMEND THAT YOU IN THE FUTURE DO YOUR RESEARCH BEFORE BIDDING!!! I WISH IT WAS THAT EASY TO HAVE AN "EXPERT" ON SPEED DIAL TO CALL AND SOLVE ALL COIN QUESTIONS SO EASILY!!! I AM NOT SURE WHAT I WILL DO IN THIS SITUATION!!! I WILL THINK ON IT, AND GET BACK TO YOU!!! REGARDS ED S!!!
Rick A.
