Silver dollar weights and Chinese fakes........

So I had the opportunity to examine some Chinese fakes today and I took the time to weigh them......Morgan 26.4grams, trade dollar 25.9 grams, peace 25.4 grams, and another morgan 28.5

I had always heard weighing was a definitive test.....

So, its clear the 28.5 gram is fake, too heavy

But are the others within the acceptable range for coins with wear???

 

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I don't know where you heard that but I would never say weighing a coin is a definitive test. Sure, if the coin is significantly underweight or overweight that might be a clue it is a fake but I would not use that test alone to authenticate or condemn a coin.

 

From the Red Book....

Morgan - 26.73gms
Peace - 26.73gms
Trade - 27.22gms

Weight isn't always definitive. The Chinese are getting better at producing them to near-correct standards. Of course there is always the magnetic test, specific gravity and, now, NGC provides a service to analyze the composition.

Chris

 

As stated the Chinese are using 90% sillver US coin metal on their higher end fakes , so weight and even specific gravity alone are not definative of a good or bad coin . Awhile back I bought a Trade ( raw ) dollar off of someone on this forum . I took the coin to Tom Delorey , a well known Trade dollar expert who wrote an article on Modern Chinese TD fakes . His opinion was while there was no red flags to lead him to say fake or not , meaning the design was near perfect , something about the surface microstrucure made him lead for saying it was a fake . But to tell for sure he would need better equipment which he didn't have at the time . The lesson here is if evan a top notch expert can't always be sure don't buy any Trade dollar raw , buy certified . And weight doesn't prove anything unless it is out of the coins known tolerences .
rzage

 

but if an expert can't tell, who can? i guess certification is 99.99% accurate.

 

Better yet become an expert and buy the genuine Trade Dollars that everyone else is afraid to buy.

 

Just a quibble, GD, but I have eight deniers from 250 years of medieval Champagne and I am pretty sure that they are what they seem. And it depends on what you mean by "problems." A lot of Lincoln cents got rubbed with erasers per the Boy Scout Handbook, but I think they have retoned over time.

I might accept that 8 out of 10 raw Trade Dollars are problematic.

Best wishes,
Mike M.

(I am not alone in having a great deal of respect for you, but that means that we weigh your words to the hundredth of a gram.)

 

I don't like the term "problem" coin. If 8 out of 10 raw coins are "problem," there must be a collector's market for them. A rim ding here, an old cleaning there -- many collectors don't really care. And as long as you pay a rim ding price for a rim ding coin, it shouldn't be a problem. Not everyone wants or can afford to buy only high grade uncirculated "no-problem" coins. I don't agree that those people should not be buying coins.

 

Exact weight won't tell you it's real. Case in point, look at the small eagle 1798 dollar coin shown in http://www.cointalk.com/t121026/. The weight was dead on: 29.96 grams. Results of PCGS authentication: Chinese counterfeit. FYI, it fooled 2 of the 4 dealers I showed it to.

 

The only time weight is close to a definite test is when the result is well off tolerance.

cpm9ball gave you the weights of the Morgan, Peace and Trade dollars. The tolerance ranges are +/- .097 grams for all three coins. So the range for the Morgan and Peace dollar is 26.63 - 26.83 grams. The Trade dollar is 27.12 - 27.32 grams.

So none of the four coins in the op are close to being in tolerance.

 

My 1873 trade dollar weighs 26 grams is this ok

 

Read the thread. If that is too much, just read the post above yours.

 

Hello folks , I have a cc 1879 Morgan dirty die coin I just found out is three grams under weight . I am new to this and ouch! Is there any way it could still be real ? It’s a beautiful coin and looks to be a A/U. Is it possible they didn’t have the ability to produce the exact weight every time. I would appreciate any help . Thanks Pat

 

3 grams underweight, pretty much impossible. They may have been using automatic weighing machines by then, but every planchet was still individually weighed. Allowed tolerance was only .097 grams, the chances they would allow a 3 gram underweight coin out would be practically zero.

 

Are you positive the scale you are using is working properly? Also, do you have pictures of the coin that we can see? Lastly, creating a new thread would probably help you get more responses. Welcome to CT!

 

Hello sorry for the late reply . Yes the scale is correct I weighed several others and they were correct . I would be happy to post a photo as soon as I figure out how to . I am a very new newbie . Lol

 

Hey guys, first post here...found this forum doing some searching. I recently bought a coin that was sold from Oregon, but shipped from China, so I was immediately suspicious. When I received the coin, it looks pretty good, but it's about 3+grams lite compared to other Peace dollars I have. I grabbed 10 and weighed them on my scale. They ranged from a well worn 25.5g to 26.7g. The coin I just received weighed only 22.8g. A magnet does not stick to it.

Here are the weights of the coins I weighed, to the right of the scale in the picture below. The coin in question is on the scale and in the other two pics.

26.3
26.5
25.5 - well worn
26.4
26.3
26.6
26.6
26.7
26.6
26.6

Thoughts?