seen a fake 1861-O Confederate Half Dollar today

aballein · Veteran Member

was cruising around the local flea market and this lady had a bunch of random coins, a handful of "roman" stuff, some odd commems, and this 1861-O Half. I'm no expert on commemorative coins but i didnt recognize them and the roman coins were typical crusty, hardly legible, tiny little things. I picked up the half dollar, looked it over real good and set it back down and when i did i got the craziest look from the vendor. I didnt ask any questions about it but it looked really nice (high MS), and wasnt marked COPY or anything like it was supposed to. To the average flea market goer i doubt they would know how to spot a fake but it was just too clean and convincing to me. Considering that only 4 are know to exist i have no doubt it was fake but it was one of the best fakes i have ever personally seen.

I also know a guy who has a fake Classic Head 1839-D $2.50 but he knows its fake and has it labeled as such. Cant convince him to sell it to me, its a pretty cool fake.

GarryN · Expert Member

Did you buy it? I purchased a Bar Cent on my local bid board that the dealer described as a copy, but there is nothing on the coin indicating it is a copy. So I have to do some research on it.