1873 cc Trade Dollar... Real or Fake???

I was searching Craigslist and found an ad with 9 trade dollars: one 1873, 4 1875s and 4 1876s... all cc mint marks. He said they were from his grandfather's collection before he died and he needs the cash for them. I emailed him and asked him how much... he said he had an offer of $1000, so I offered $1200 and he accepted. If they are genuine, this is a great deal (considering they are like $200+ each), but I suspect they are fake... It's really hard for me to tell. I read somewhere that they made thousands of counterfeits in the 1920s, so I asked him to send me a closeup picture of the 1873.

Here is the picture of the '73:
http://i1021.photobucket.com/albums/af335/jaaronh/003.jpg

I already agreed on meeting him on wednesday, but I don't want to buy them if they are fake, so I need some help. If this one is fake, most likely the rest of them are fake. So... what do you guys think... real or fake???

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

A picture of the Observe would help the rim looks good.

 

I'd also like a picture of the 3rd side of the coin.

 

Ok... I'll ask him for more pictures... I'll post them when I can.

 

:welcome:you very well could be showing one side of the only real one...where's the reverse?...has to match up as fakes sometimes do not

 

I just asked him for the reverse... Waiting for his email...

 

Sounds like risky business if you yourself don't know what things to look for on fake trade dollars. I'm not saying that I'm good at telling fakes either, I'm new to this too, but maybe you should hold off a bit until you get more experience.

 

Take along a magnet.

 

You poll desperately needs a third choice - "Can't tell from the photo".

Good signs:

• No apparent indications of casting on the surface
• even denticles
• proper width rim

Bad signs:

• Price
• source of listing

Incomplete list of remaining questions:

• Weight
• diameter
• magnetic/non-magnetic
• proper die pairing
• edge appearance

 

Trade Dollars are the most highly counterfeited coin there is. Buying them raw, especially from a Craigslist listing, is, indeed, risky business at best.

 

Tell him to take the other offer of a $1000.

As already mentioned Trade Dollars are highly counterfeited by the Chinese.

 

Denticals are even but appear oddly weak 7:30 - 9:00
Rim width looks good but unusually sharp, which is doubly odd with the weak denticals.

Since they are all CC's I'd be interested in seeing images of SEVERAL of the reverses to see if they were all form the same reverse die. Frequently seen on counterfeits (same rev for multiple years) but seldom seen on real coins. Two years for one rev maybe, but more than 2 years is very unusual except for coins with very small mintages.

 

You guys are right! Too risky... They could be genuine, but most likely they aren't and I'm not about to throw away $1200 to find out. I waited for him to send me a picture of the reverse, but he never did. I guess he backed off because I was too inquisitive? I don't know, but I told him I wasn't interested anymore and that he should take the next highest offer. I also told him that if he truly believes that they are genuine, he should instead get them graded. An NGC AU58 1875 cc Trade Dollar sold for $1135 not too long ago on ebay. That's just for ONE coin... He has nine. If they are all genuine trade dollars, he could have close to $10,000 in coins. Then again, maybe he knows that they are fake and wants to make a quick $1000... who knows? Whatever... I backed out of the deal.

 

Smart move. For a high end coin such as Trade Dollars, only buy slabbed ones from PCGS, NGC, ANACS. That way you know you're getting an authentic Mint coin.

 

I'm going to go out on limb and say that the coin photographed is one of the better older counterfeits. More pictures are needed of course... but I'm leaning heavily towards counterfeit.

 

A scale with .01 gram accuracy would help. I heard tell that the weight of almost all fakes is different from the real weight of 27.20 grams

 

That's a given though as most fakes from China, where the majority are made, are castings.

 

I thought most were struck from dies. The weight is the first thing to check, in my opinion.

 

Authentic coins made at the Mint are struck from dies.

Fake counterfeit copies are cast.

 

Counterfeits are also struck from fake dies as well. In fact most if not all of the Chinese fakes made in the past five to ten years are struck not cast.