Add a Little Here, Take Off a Little There

By Rick Montgomery - March 12, 2002

This 1953-S Franklin was a beauty, but that wasn't enough. Note the 'strengthening' of the bell lines near the bottom of the bell.

A little over 25 years ago, which seems like just the other day, a dealer from Massachusetts named Vince Filpi had a 1945 Mercury dime with full bands for sale. The price was $50. That number was unthinkable for a 1945 dime, but someone bought it and another barrier in the world of numismatics had fallen. Yes, it was rare with full bands, and yes, this was an especially nice one, but... $50? Sadly, it was only a matter of time until 1945 dimes began to show up on bourse floors with re-engraved central bands.

Now, hit the fast forward button to 2002. A 1953-S Franklin half dollar with full bell lines (PCGS MS66FBL) has sold in the past year for $69,000. Guess what? Yes, you got it right on the first try! The coin pictured in the first photo is a genuine 1953-S half dollar, but the bell lines have been altered to show detail that was never there when the coin was struck. This is a shame for two reasons. One, someone tried to cheat an unsuspecting collector out of thousands of dollars, maybe tens of thousands of dollars. Two, a really nice 1953-S Franklin half dollar was ruined forever. If this coin had been left alone it would not have matched the value of the genuine MS66FBL specimen, but it might have graded MS67 and brought thousands of dollars anyway!

This 1926-S Standing Liberty quarter looks like a full head Gem at first glance.

The head on this coin shows strong evidence of added metal and other tampering.

The coin pictured in the second and third photos is another version of the same story: deception for fun and profit. The 1926-S Standing Liberty quarter is a condition rarity to be sure with less than 80 pieces certified in MS65 or better. A full head specimen is even more of a rarity, with just 17 pieces certified in MS65FH or better. In an attempt to increase the value of this coin by thousands of dollars, someone built a new head for Miss Liberty, complete with a fake "hole in the ear" and separation of the cap from the face. The discoloration in this area was an immediate alarm bell, and close inspection revealed that trickery was afoot once again.

Sometimes things don't make a lot of sense. If someone was going to make a fake 1909-S V.D.B. by adding a mintmark, they would start with a genuine 1909 V.D.B. cent wouldn't they? Well, not in this case. Believe it or not, our coin-altering villain started with a regular 1909 Lincoln cent, then added a mintmark to the obverse and the V.D.B. to the reverse! That's not the end of it, either. The boxy 1909-S V.D.B. mintmark is perhaps the best-known die punch in all of numismatics. The "mintmark" on this fake is characteristic of nothing, being too wide open and misshapen for 1909, plus the diagnostics of a genuine mintmark are missing: the notch in the upper serif and the die chip in the upper loop are supposed to be there, but they aren't. Meanwhile, the V.D.B. on this fake is not crisp and the angle of the midsection of the B is wrong, among other problems.

Over the years PCGS has detected and rejected thousands of coins for being counterfeit or altered in some way that was intended to deceive another dealer or collector. If you have any coin of value have it checked out by your friends at the Professional Coin Grading Service.

Rick Montgomery has been a professional coin grader since 1980. He was a grader at the American Numismatic Association Certification Service (ANACS) from 1980 to 1985. He was the ANACS Director from 1985 to 1987. Rick joined PCGS in 1987 and was named President of the company in 1997. In his tenure at PCGS, he has verified the final grades for over 5,000,000 coins. Rick is the co-author of "The Official Guide To Coin Grading And Counterfeit Detection," the Numismatic Literary Guild's "Book Of The Year" award winner for 1998. Today, Rick is considered the world's top expert on U.S. coin counterfeit detection.