Counterfeit U.S. large cent!

[Dr Plugs]

Went for a short hunt today, the heat was terrible. We found an old homesite on the map and went looking for it.

I believe it was already detected at some point, there were very few good targets. We did end up wit a couple of flat buttons, and to my surprise, this counterfeit 1820 large cent.

Largies come in at 29/30 on the equinox, this one came in at a 12/13! I thought I was digging a tomback or pewter button. Not sure what it's made out of, pewter would be my best guess just going by the vdi numbers. The sharpness of the detail you can see is amazing on this coin.

 

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[Dr Plugs]

What makes everyone think the coin is counterfeit?

It is only a guess on my part going by the vdi numbers and it appears not to be copper. It has some imperfections on it if you look at it through a jewlers loupe, you can see very small voids on the coin that look like they are from imperfections in what ever mold they may have used.

I was comparing it to another 1820 lc I have found and the coin is actually slightly bigger around in diameter. My buddy that detects with me, has been doing it for a long time, he has dug close to 300 LC, he to ran it across his ctx3030, and examined the coin, his conclusion was also that the coin is not copper, and resembles other counterfeits that he has dug, or has seen dug.

I probably should have posted "possible counterfeit large cent" but given it is a 200 or so year old coin it is still only a educated guess.

Like I said, I am new to the hobby, I use the info more experienced detectorists can give me, I am in no way schooled in metallurgy, but with the numbers given on 2 separate machines I am very certain this coin is not copper.

If there is anyone out there that knows if some kind of fire damage, or other damage can change the make up of copper that drastically please chime in, like I said I am definitely open to any and all opinions, if it is a real LC, I apologize for jumping the gun on it and posting a possibly false thread, I was just exited with the info we could get from the coin, and thought it was indeed a forgery.

Either way I consider it a great find, ind it will stay in my collection with my other largest.

Thanks to everyone who has looked at this post and replied, after all, when you do a hobby like this where you are dealing with items as old as what we do, our minds always wonder their origins and uses, sometimes they are just romantic guesses that fuel us for the next hunt!

 

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[Digger RJ]

Went for a short hunt today, the heat was terrible. We found an old homesite on the map and went looking for it.

I believe it was already detected at some point, there were very few good targets. We did end up wit a couple of flat buttons, and to my surprise, this counterfeit 1820 large cent.

Largies come in at 29/30 on the equinox, this one came in at a 12/13! I thought I was digging a tomback or pewter button. Not sure what it's made out of, pewter would be my best guess just going by the vdi numbers. The sharpness of the detail you can see is amazing on this coin.

Very Cool!!! Congrats!!!