1853 half dollar no rays, no O, is it fake or doctored ?

Hi everyone,

I got another coin i can't figure out whatsoever. 1853 half dollar 12 grams no rays or arrows. I have not found such a variety for 1853. It has some serious wear but still i can only think it's fake or doctored after someone rubbed out the rays and arrows on purpose on a km#79.

It sounds like silver when pinged and i am pretty sure it's silver.

12 grams.

N#14901

N#14902

It has some contrasting stain on the eagle..i guess someone either tried to clean or chemically test.

Has anyone seen anything like this before ?

That's exactly what they did. Trying to make it appear as a 1953 KM# 68 hoping nobody would notice it didn't have an O mint mark.  The weight is too light to be a KM# 68. They missed one of the rays:

rsirian1

That's exactly what they did. Trying to make it appear as a 1953 KM# 68 hoping nobody would notice it didn't have an O mint mark.  The weight is too light to be a KM# 68. They missed one of the rays:

 

         

Very nice spotting, i missed that little detail. Why would anyone even do this, i don't know, specially on a very worn coin.

There are visible scratches around the eagle but that is common on brutally cleaned coins. Must have been polished as well, specially where the arrows have gone.

This being said, how much does this alter it's value ? and what would it's value be right now ?

Why? Because an 1853 O no arrows goes for US $250,000 in VG (!) condition.  A non-collector not knowing it needs to have an O to be authentic may think they're getting a bargain for $50,000.

It's worth melt value only. 

rsirian1

Why? Because an 1853 O no arrows goes for US $250,000 in VG (!) condition.  A non-collector not knowing it needs to have an O to be authentic may think they're getting a bargain for $50,000.

 

It's worth melt value only. 

Thx for the answers. 

On numista only 4 coins are mentioned at 1853 O. NGC does not even mention the 1853 O. It would really need someone really foolish to buy it for thousands of dollars.

Wonder how much of a common practice this was to doctor KM#79 coins this way.