Does this ASE look real? Local coin store said it was fine and they didn't know of them being faked as there wasn't much value in it. More details to follow....
Looks like a proof version. Not an expert but I think it may be real but not experienced enough to judge.
Also not an expert, but going by what I can see in the photo, it is done like a proof but the shield side looks like it's missing the W mint mark.
Here are photos of my proof eagles: the font looks a little different, could be the photo's & sizing, & there should be some initials "WA" on the left of the stripes bottom of the dress near the right foot, mine was minted in west point therefore the "W". Hard to tell for sure from the photo's but your eagles looks like they're real
Your local coin dealer doesn't know what s/he is talking about. There are plenty of fake ASE's that one can easily buy in both a proof and bullion finish. The Chinese have gotten very skilled at making imitation ASE's that can fool all but the very experienced numismatists. The imitation/fake ASE's that you can buy on Amazon have the word "COPY" or something similar minted into the coin but the one's coming from China do not in most cases. I personally would not want to say if your coin is real or not only because the fakes are getting so good. You can do some non-destructive tests to try to help make a deterrmination including the magnet or slide test. Of course, get a good scale and check the weight. Also measure the diameter and thickness....the tolerances of ASE's are minuscule so just be aware of this. . .
I could sell it to you, but it would ruin my feedback score. I meant to follow up on this earlier, but got distracted. Here's the full story. The coin was bought through an ebay page claiming coin located in Victoria. The coin arrived from China within a week, which had me almost certain it was fake. I didn't have a digital scale with the accuracy I needed so I took the coin into the only coin store in town for an opinion. Without telling him the coins source, I asked his opinion on whether he thought it might be fake. He had a good look and could see no reason to think it might be fake " and anyway there's not enough money in it for these common ones". He was ready for me to leave with that advice, until I told him where it came from. We then removed the coin from the capsule and put it on the scale = 29.6 gms. I need to do some work on my photo skills as it's hard to see the quality of this coin. If it's helpful/educational I'd be happy to post the coin to any organizers of monthly meetings, just PM me.
