An “Old” 1921-D Half Dollar Counterfeit – Jack Young’s Fun With Fakes

By Jack D. Young, Early American Coppers (EAC), and the Dark Side Group ……
 

Along the same lines as my Fun with Fakes article here on the 1799 Draped Bust counterfeits is this previously documented 1921-D Walking Liberty half dollar.

This counterfeit Walker debuted on NGC’s website back in 2012 and was then republished by CoinWeek in 2021.

In that article, NGC noted some of the issues they saw in their review; I note a couple of standout attribution points not mentioned in the article, the date and mint mark/placement (counterfeit found by NGC on the left, genuine coin on the right):

So, with that history note, we fast-forward to a March 2024 eBay listing of a similarly interesting example.

The coin has the same “feel” as the NGC example, and I created comparison images of the two to showcase common attributes.

Many common features, including the date and mint mark, are circled in black. It’s always important, in my humble opinion, to show both common and different features alongside a known genuine example.

Several major differences are noted in red, including the date and the mint mark. One friend reviewing these stated that the suspect example looked like Liberty had a mummy arm and hand…

From these images it seems pretty certain that both the NGC and the latest ‘Bay example are from the same maker/dies. It is also apparent that they are both counterfeits, with many major differences seen compared to known genuine examples.

The eBay listing hit just over $2K USD when it was removed. In a short conversation with the seller, he stated that he had paid $2,500 for it and was returning it to the seller he had purchased it from. I would have loved to get it off the market, but not at that $$$ level.

But anyway, folks who know me know that I don’t know how to stop when I’m ahead.

I did some trolling on the internet and found some more examples of these counterfeit 1921-D half dollars; the first was from a Coin Talk forum post back in 2011. The OP posted his example that he had listed on the ‘Bay as genuine and was told by a potential bidder that it was a fake. Images of that example match the two I have documented here.

Also included was an image of what was considered a current (at the time) CN example; another match, just not artificially aged to look as “genuine” as the others.

And continued trolling led to these Ali and eCRATER examples. It makes you wonder how they slip through as genuine for big bucks! Interestingly, there’s this from the German Ali site:

And eCRATER:

So, as always, stay vigilant out there. Like the 1799 Draped Bust fakes linked above, these seem to resurface when you least expect them. As Yogi Berra reportedly said, it’s like deja-vu, all over again.

Best,

—Jack

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