CoinWeek

This $3,500 1804 Large Cent Looked Convincing, Until Jack Young Checked the Edge

By Jack D. Young and the Dark Side Group for CoinWeek

Sometimes a counterfeit announces itself immediately.

Other times, it looks just good enough to make you stop.

This story falls into the second category.

A familiar-looking 1804 Large Cent recently appeared on eBay. A large and reputable coin dealer offered the coin. Moreover, the asking price sat around $3,500.

For a genuine 1804 Large Cent in the apparent condition, the price did not look unreasonable.

However, something about this coin bothered me.

And once I started looking closely, the warning signs multiplied.

The investigation also inspired a podcast discussion from my friend at FrostByte Coins titled “Don’t Buy a Fake: The 1804 Large Cent ‘Trap.’”

FrostByte Coins podcast discussion of the 1804 Large Cent A Familiar 1804 Large Cent Appears on eBay

Here is the subject coin a…

Want to Collect Smarter? The 2026 GACC Show Puts Top Coin Experts in the Classroom

Collectors heading to the 2026 Great American Coin & Collectibles Show in Rosemont, Illinois, will find more than coins for sale. This year, organizers will put a strong emphasis on practical collector education.

The public show runs Thursday through Saturday, October 1-3, 2026, at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center. Dealer-to-dealer trading begins one day earlier, on September 30.

During the show, visitors can take part in the returning Numismatic Educational Journey. In addition, five educational seminars on Friday, October 2, will tackle subjects ranging from classic U.S. commemoratives to Morgan and Peace Dollars.

Better yet, Educational Journey participants will have a chance to win numismatic prizes, including an American Silver Eagle or a certified Proof Franklin Half Dollar.

Numismatic Educational Journey participants at the 2026 Great American Co…

 From Athens to Parthia: How Athena Conquered the Ancient Coinage World

Athena ranked among the 12 Olympian gods and became one of the most important deities of the ancient Greek world. Her influence also spread far beyond Greece. Romans worshiped her as Minerva, while rulers and mints across Asia adopted her image. Even Parthian coinage featured her.

Athena has always been one of my favorites. She combines intelligence, beauty, strategy, craftsmanship, and a willingness to fight. What’s not to like?

Athena Parthenos Athena: Goddess of Wisdom, War, and the City

According to Greek mythology, Athena sprang fully armed from the head of Zeus.

The story starts with Metis, a goddess associated with wisdom and cunning. Zeus swallowed the pregnant Metis after hearing a prophecy concerning her children. Later traditions added colorful details about how Zeus tricked Metis before swallowing her. While inside Zeus, Metis continued preparing armor for her unborn daug…

The Ceiba: Liberty Struck in Silver

Most countries outlive their money. In 19th-century Central America, something remarkable happened. The money outlived the country.

The 1824 Central American Republic 8 Reales captures one of the most ambitious political experiments in Latin American history. Five former Spanish provinces tried to build a federal republic. Then they placed that experiment on a large silver coin.

Its design rejected kings, crowns, and royal arms. Instead, the coin showed a rising sun, five volcanoes, and a great Ceiba tree.

Central American Republic 1824-NG M Silver 8 Reales KM-4 PCGS AU-50 – Greatcollections

Those images carried a message. Central America had entered a new age.

Yet the political union behind that message would barely survive another generation.

Independence Creates a New Central America

Central America broke from Spanish rule in 1821. However, independence did not immediately produce five separate r…

Five Were Struck: America’s Finest 1879 Quintuple Stella

Five were struck. Four remain in private hands. One belongs to the Smithsonian.

Now the finest-certified example of the legendary 1879 Quintuple Stella will return to the auction block after 18 years away from the market.

Heritage Auctions will offer the coin as Lot 3604 in its 2026 ANA U.S. Coins Signature Auction. The 1879 $20 Liberty Head Quintuple Stella, Judd-1643, Pollock-1843, carries a grade of PCGS PR64+ Deep Cameo and traces its pedigree through Virgil Brand, Fred Olsen, Dr. John E. Wilkison, the Southern Collection, and Bob R. Simpson.

1879 $20 Liberty Head Quintuple Stella, Judd-1643, Pollock-1843, Low R.7, PR64+ Deep Cameo PCGS

Heritage will call the lot during its Platinum Session on Wednesday, September 2, 2026, at 4 p.m. Central Time. The full auction runs from August 31 through September 5.

Yet rarity alone does not explain this coin.

The Quintuple Stella represents s…

This Spectacular 1939 Proof Walking Liberty Half Dollar Sits at the Top of the PCGS Census

A great coin design can capture motion, optimism, and national identity. However, only extraordinary preservation can carry that design to the top of the modern grading scale.

Stack’s Bowers Galleries will offer one such coin in its Summer 2026 Global Showcase Auction. Lot 2103 features a 1939 Walking Liberty Half Dollar graded Proof-68+ by PCGS and approved by CAC. The coin will cross the block during Session 2, Rarities Night.

Jaw-Dropping Ultra Gem Proof 1939 Walking Liberty Half Dollar. Proof-68+ (PCGS). CAC.

PCGS has certified only seven 1939 Proof Walking Liberty Half Dollars at Proof-68+. None grade higher. Therefore, this coin stands among the finest examples that collectors can obtain.

A Proof Coin From America’s Return to Collector Coinage

The story begins three years before this coin entered the presses.

The United States Mint had ended regular Pr…

Near-Perfect 1915-S Panama-Pacific Half Dollar Heads to GreatCollections

A city rose from disaster. A canal changed global trade. Then, two legendary U.S. Mint engravers captured both stories on a single silver half dollar.

GreatCollections will offer a superbly toned 1915-S Panama-Pacific Exposition Half Dollar on Sunday, September 6, 2026. PCGS graded the coin MS-68, while CAC approved it with a green sticker. GreatCollections also reports that only one example ranks finer at PCGS. The coin comes from the JFM57 Collection of Silver Commemoratives.

That elite grade makes this coin far more than a high-end example of a popular commemorative. It stands among the finest survivors of one of America’s most ambitious early commemorative programs.

GreatCollections – 1915-S Panama-Pacific Exposition Half Dollar PCGS MS-68 (CAC Green) (Toned) A World’s Fair Celebrated Two American Triumphs

San Francisco hosted the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in…

This 1899 $2 “Mini-Porthole” Note Hides an Incredible American Story

At first glance, the Series 1899 $2 Silver Certificate grabs attention for an obvious reason. George Washington stares from a compact portrait at the center of one of the most distinctive large-size notes America ever issued.

Collectors quickly gave the design a fitting nickname: the “Mini-Porthole.”

However, the example that Stack’s Bowers Galleries will offer in its Summer 2026 Global Showcase Auction tells a much deeper story.

This particular note carries the engraved signatures of James C. Napier and Lee McClung. That pairing identifies the note as Friedberg 253. More importantly, it ties a $2 bill to two extraordinary Americans whose careers crossed inside the Treasury Department for only a brief moment.

1899 $2 Silver Certificate. PCGS Banknote Gem Uncirculated 65 PPQ.

One became a leading Black lawyer, banker, businessman, and civil-rights advocate. The other starred on Ya…

1848 Gothic Florin Pattern: Britain’s Decimal Revolution in Silver

At first glance, the 1848 Great Britain Gothic Florin Pattern looks like pure Victorian theater.

Queen Victoria wears an elaborate crown. Her braided hair and richly ornamented dress evoke medieval England. Across the reverse, crowned shields form a cross around a central rose. Meanwhile, roses, a thistle, and a shamrock identify the nations of the United Kingdom.

Yet this coin represents much more than an artistic experiment.

It marks Britain’s first serious step toward decimal currency. It also carries the design decision that soon triggered one of the great controversies in British numismatic history.

Now, one exceptional survivor will cross the auction block.

Stack’s Bowers Galleries will offer an 1848 Silver “Gothic” Florin Pattern graded NGC Proof-66 as Lot 41511 in its Summer 2026 Global Showcase Auction. The plain-edge rarity comes from the Charles “Cheech” Lit…

Only 8,000 Were Struck: The 1866 Dime That Survived Reconstruction

Only 8,000 business-strike 1866 Liberty Seated Dimes left the Philadelphia Mint. Even more remarkably, the Mint struck the entire business-strike production on a single day: January 31, 1866.

That tiny output alone makes the coin important. Yet the story behind it adds another dimension.

The United States produced the 1866 dime during one of the most difficult transitions in American history. The Civil War had shattered lives, wealth, infrastructure, and the monetary system. Precious-metal coins had disappeared from everyday commerce. Meanwhile, hundreds of millions of dollars in federal paper money circulated at a discount to specie.

Against that backdrop, Philadelphia devoted only token attention to the dime.

Today, the 1866 Liberty Seated Dime ranks among the key low-mintage Philadelphia issues of the series. High-grade survivors remain especially elusive. Moreover, an extraordi…