1803 Gold half-Eagle, an exceptional counterfeit

[Scrappy]

I dug this coin and didn’t think anything of it at first. I chalked it up as a counterfeit since it was crusted, and me and my group often find counterfeits. However, having been dug from a site that burned down 200 years ago, could have just been damaged and encrusted in shite? It was found smashed between foundation rubble and ash. With a little lemon juice it cleaned up nicely. I figure that’s either because of residual gold wash in the case of a counterfeit, or a fire damaged real deal. I checked it against the (red book) and I couldn’t find differences often found in contemporary counterfeits.

Two things trouble me. The edge seems to be missing and is not reeded, and the diameter is only 24mm but varies slightly. It should be 25mm. The weight is low at 7-ish grams and bounces to 8 grams, but I don’t have a scale accurate down to the hundredth, but it should be 8.75.
View attachment 2070069


Ive seen a lot of amazing and complicated things come out of the ground but this one has me stumped. I tried to zoom in on the date but I’m unsure if I can see a 3-over-2 variety since there’s no normal-strike 1803. Either way, counterfeit or real, it’s a find that’ll display nicely in my cabinet.

A little update: turns out it’s not gold, ie. It seems to be a debased counterfeit under 9karats. The planchet is solid, not cored, so it’s as well made as one can come. It’s what I suspected deep down since the color was never quite there. I’ll be getting it analyzed to see the exact content that gives it that shine and weight. Additionally, with the help of PepperJ, it’s been ruled out as a kettle token. But still a mystery

It shines like gold in my cabinet and I’ll call it unique because it was made so masterfully with solid planchet and press. I suspect many of these were able to trick folks. So I’m still without finding gold, but so damn close. Hopefully my luck will put me over one someday, but finds like this I still absolutely enjoy. Thx for looking!

 

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[pepperj]

Great to see you getting out Scrappy, and digging the unique coinage.
Nice recovery on the coin, and I'll throw in my 2 cents worth on what it might be.
1803 Kettle Token
Reasons for my thoughts is the gold has the 3 placement close as in the image.

1803 has the 3 further away closer to the rim as this image

Here is your coin, so if we went only on that it would be in the Kettle Token category.

Now let's throw all this out with the bath water.
The Kettle token has only 12 stars, and your's has 13 stars as a gold would have.
So that would put in the possible gold category.

Thoughts on the looks of the coin/token.
If in fact it's a Kettle Token it would be brass, and from seeing brass/copper coming out of a submerged water/saturated ground it has a gold appearance.
Then again if it's a counterfeit gold it might have a low content .

Another possibility is that the coin has been subjected to some heat, and has altered the look a bit.
Like Smokey stated is to bring it to a coin shop that has a XRF tester, and that will tell you what the metal content is.
Either way it's certainly unique, and hoping it's the real deal as it's worth some serious coin.

 

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[Scrappy]

Great to see you getting out Scrappy, and digging the unique coinage.
Nice recovery on the coin, and I'll throw in my 2 cents worth on what it might be.
1803 Kettle Token
Reasons for my thoughts is the gold has the 3 placement close as in the image.
View attachment 2070407
1803 has the 3 further away closer to the rim as this image
View attachment 2070408
Here is your coin, so if we went only on that it would be in the Kettle Token category.
View attachment 2070409
Now let's throw all this out with the bath water.
The Kettle token has only 12 stars, and your's has 13 stars as a gold would have.
So that would put in the possible gold category.

Thoughts on the looks of the coin/token.
If in fact it's a Kettle Token it would be brass, and from seeing brass/copper coming out of a submerged water/saturated ground it has a gold appearance.
Then again if it's a counterfeit gold it might have a low content .

Another possibility is that the coin has been subjected to some heat, and has altered the look a bit.
Like Smokey stated is to bring it to a coin shop that has a XRF tester, and that will tell you what the metal content is.
Either way it's certainly unique, and hoping it's the real deal as it's worth some serious coin.

Thanks for the amazing coin analysis. You’ve got quite an eye. I agree with what you’ve said, which is what’s led me to my confused state. Removing the kettle token possibilities is a big help. So what I’ve got left is an XRF scan to determine metal content. The coin came from an area that is notorious for corroding copper coins terribly, and the coin edges are sharp, so it’s really about determining the gold content of the coin. Over the last two days after the initial lemon juice cleaning, the coin has taken a rose gold appearance so it must have some copper in there somewhere. I’ll keep you abreast with whatI I find out

 

[Scrappy]

Nice coin steve....glad your out hunting and posting....herd you were down hunting with Carolinatom . Congrats on the well made counterfeit gold !!

Hey Bart! You heard right buddy…we ran around North and South Carolina for 5 days. Largies, lots of silver….
As for the gold I need to get it tested. Problem is I don’t have two seconds to rub together lately 🤣 I need a vacation, maybe the keys….

Cheers

 

[dognose]

a great find and some very informative replies.

I am interested to read more after further analysis

 

[magua]

There are some amazing counterfeits coming from Aliexpress. Some of them even include the "errors" in very good detail and have some wear areas that are commonly noted.
example: https://tinyurl.com/4t35e6et

We recently discussed this at an archaeology meeting because of some items that were turning up at various test and dig sites. We believe some of them are actually being put in areas to draw the research dig in a different direction and some local treasure hunters are hitting the actual area. They're just recently aware that colonial items were located and they've been gutting the area...like destructing possible test sites. Most small archaeology groups are not well funded and it's not as if you can post a guard or watch the site. It's posted, sometimes cams are placed if possible, etc. But they know the cam placements and know what to wear to avoid being on cam.

If you know what you're looking for...you can pick out the fakes. But it wastes our time researching and determining validity because everything found at some sites require the process.

 

[Scrappy]

There are some amazing counterfeits coming from Aliexpress. Some of them even include the "errors" in very good detail and have some wear areas that are commonly noted.
example: https://tinyurl.com/4t35e6et

We recently discussed this at an archaeology meeting because of some items that were turning up at various test and dig sites. We believe some of them are actually being put in areas to draw the research dig in a different direction and some local treasure hunters are hitting the actual area. They're just recently aware that colonial items were located and they've been gutting the area...like destructing possible test sites. Most small archaeology groups are not well funded and it's not as if you can post a guard or watch the site. It's posted, sometimes cams are placed if possible, etc. But they know the cam placements and know what to wear to avoid being on cam.

If you know what you're looking for...you can pick out the fakes. But it wastes our time researching and determining validity because everything found at some sites require the process.

Wow