Contemporary Counterfeit 1869-S Liberty Head Half Eagle. Platinum. Extremely Fine, Cleaned, Obverse Scratches. This is a particularly well executed piece with most major design elements sharp and both the portrait and eagle not all that dissimilar in style to those seen on the regular issue United States Mint product. The sandy-silver surfaces are quite smooth overall in hand, although there is a concentration of rather heavy scratches in the upper left obverse field, obviously the result of someones "testing" of this curious "half eagle." Close inspection with a loupe reveals considerable roughness to the texture, especially on the reverse, and then again most prominently at the arrow heads and the letters CA in AMERICA. A somewhat glossy, subdued appearance explains our qualifier for cleaning. While we have handled a number of platinum counterfeits of Spanish colonial gold coins in recent years (some gilt), this is our first offering for a counterfeit of a United States gold coin in quite some time. An intriguing piece produced at a time when platinum was less valuable than gold. Housed in an ACG holder with a grade of VF-30.
