1858 Seated Quarter Real/Fake?

[timmyv12]

Can anyone tell me if this is real? Its lighter than its suppost to by over a gram. I checked rim but i cant find a seam. It has a little magnetic material in it because i passed it over a small super magnet. The actual color of the metal is greyish. like a worn down 1943 Nickel. Im pretty sure this is fake but i need someone to confirm and tell me what its made out of.

 

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[Erik in NJ]

Color doesn't look right to me....as far as I now, it should not be magnetic at all -- I'm sure some of the experts here will confirm. Where did you get it from?

 

[timmyv12]

I found this out at my father-in-laws place out at some house ruins. The houses were destroyed in a bad storm about 70 years ago. Not much left there except the foundations of the few houses. Spent a whole day in the freezing to find this. A frame to a die cast tractor. Also some jars and an early 1900's late 1800's dress.

 

[timmyv12]

oh just so i know the scan was done with grayscale to show detail. but the color is about same color.

 

[crazyjarhead]

I'm no expert but first glance at it appears to be real. However when you mentioned the magnet deal ..... well I'm not so sure

 

[Roger Mn.]

It looks real to me. A little worn. Maybe your magnet is attracted to the staples.

 

[sscindercoop]

It should not be magnetic at all.

 

[timmyv12]

im still not for sure. Its not made of silver, its a grey metal. Its got a magnetic element in it. I took it out of 2"x2" and its still magnetic. I decided to scratch a very layer of metal of the edge and its a shiny grey color. Weights about 1.5 grams less than what its suppost to.

 

[Erik in NJ]

Definitely a fake.....nice catch....and also a very nice find even if it's not real....probably tells more of a story than a real one

 

[timmyv12]

Would this be worth anything if its fake? It was likely made in the 1860's if its fake.

 

[Erik in NJ]

Note sure, but may be worth more than the real thing depending on who made it and why. I like it! I think you did well!!

 

[West Jersey Detecting]

Here is one I found a few years back. It is very worn with no sign of the denticals on the rim, but weighs about 6.2 grams which is about normal. The grayish color is normal. I would double check the magnet & weight. It looks real to me.

 

[timmyv12]

This one is not made of silver. Its made of a darker metal. Also the coin is slightly magnetic. It weights only 4.6 grams. Also do they have a reeding on the side? i decided to closer examine the side and there is a lot extra metal between the spacing. I went under a 60X loupe on the front and the bottom right star is flattened. After close examining i have determined that this was crudely made fake. I think it was made by 2 pieces put together, then the rim placed on. There in no line on the rim.

 

[Roger Mn.]

Maybe the crud on it has some iron in it . I would wash it with some comet or Ajax cleanser between your fingers to get it crud off.

 

[soupie]

There were counterfiter back in the day,had a few running around my parts...if it is not silver,it is a fake....
I would do a genweb search on your county,maybey something in there about counterfiters in you area...I found mine...and there former sites are now on my spring hit list....good luck..Soup

 

[snappy]

I once pulled a 1963 dime that had a slight magnetic attraction it was laying on top/next to of a piece iron. the coin was discolored my guess some of the iron leached onto the coin.... not sure if or why anyone would want to counterfit a 1963 dime never gave it another thought until your post.

 

[West Jersey Detecting]

I once pulled a 1963 dime that had a slight magnetic attraction it was laying on top/next to of a piece iron. the coin was discolored my guess some of the iron leached onto the coin.... not sure if or why anyone would want to counterfit a 1963 dime never gave it another thought until your post.

In the 1950's a man by the name of Francis Henning was making counterfeit nickels. The only reason he got caught was because he forgot the mint-mark over the dome of the 1942-1945 nickels.

Here is a simple test to see if the coin is counterfeit...wave it under the search coil of a metal detector. If the detector has a digital ID you will know instantly if it is a silver quarter because that is what it will show on the detector. If it reads as junk it must be a counterfeit.

 

[p2c]

Worth further checking out but I think the weight issue is a dead give away. Is your scale accurate? By over a gram, you are 15-20% off weight. I am not an expert on how wear affects coin weight, but that seems high to me. I'd take that quarter and lay it next to an unworn seated liberty quarter and compare how much thinner this coin is than an unworn one. If it seems like it is 20% thinner, perhaps you have something... But remember we are talking not just about surface detail, but actual coin thinning.

As to the color though, especially if this was a dug coin, color is no indication. If the coin was in the presence of sulfur, sulfur dioxide, sulfuric acid, etc it can become grey or darkened. I have dug silver which are black, grey, and white (like paper not shiny). The fact is, you don't know what is around which the silver may have reacted with, nor do you know how deep below the surface of the coin that reaction went.

Also, the only metal that really is magnetic is Iron, so Iron alloys, steel etc are it; cobalt and nickel also are attracted to magnets (paramagnetic), but a US nickel does not have a high enough nickel content to be attracted by a magnet. Nickel is such a hard metal, that an alloy that was sufficiently high enough in nickel content to be noticeably attracted to a magnet, would be virtually impossible for a counterfeiter, especially at that period, to press. The early US shield nickels (which were only 25% nickel content) oftentimes missed details b/c the mint could not make a hard enough strike on the metal.

So, if your coin is counterfeit, my guess is its magnetic due to an iron core that was plated or coated with a secondary gray metal or it is some type of steel. However, such a counterfeit would probably experience some sort of corrosion overtime due to the bi-metallic content. If it has an iron core, likely since its not corroded, I'd guess the exterior is silver. It may be that it was cored (a small hole in the rim where silver was excavated, and replaced with iron (but I doubt this) -- usually this was done with gold coins, and they were re-filled with lead).

More likely, like another poster said, send your metal detector over it. If it had an iron core, it should read much lower than a quarter should. If it is steel (which if it were in the ground it would be rusted away), your detector will register like iron junk over it. Most magnetic fakes of coins are some form of steel.

I don't know enough about how wear of a coin affects weight, but if you are off that much I do think something is suspect.

At any rate it is still a nice find

 

[spitfire55]

 

[Diggin-N-Dumps]

Looks Exactly like A Seated Quarter I have mine for sure was a dug coin.. Did you do the drop test?

If ya dont want it, I would give you a Real Quarter for it