Category Archives: michael fazarri

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Mintmarks: Know the Style and Location

Letter mint mark as used for the New Orleans mint.
by Michael Fazarri
Readers will recall that a mintmark is a symbol, letter, or combination of these marks placed on a die to indicate the location of the facility where the coin was produced. Many foreign countries used animals or objects such as an anchor to serve this purpose

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Genuine Coins Have “Style”

While it is obvious today that to authenticate a coin, you must know what the genuine coin should look like, at one time this was taken for granted.  When I became an authenticator, I never saw it expressed anywhere!  I am certain this primary “rule” of authentication was formalized in print and passed on during our authentication seminars starting in 1973 due to a very fortuitous event.
One day at the Certification Service, we almost returned a very worn 1915-S Pan Pac $50 (carried as a pocket piece) to a walk-in the customer as a cast counterfeit because it looked so crude under a microscope

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