is this morgan fake?

Can you do a balance test?

Construct a balance using something like a flat ruler and wood matchstick (for the fulcrum). Verify that the balance is set up properly using two good coins, and then replace one of the coins with the one in question.

Note: I haven't done this before - you may need to play with it a while to make it "sensitive" enough (one legal coin won't balance when paired with another legal coin and a staple). The coins' condition should match as closely as possible.

 

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Imo the coin looks genuine, but polished. Could it be possible that a polished coin would slide faster than a regular circulated example?

 

You are sliding an $870 coin down a bunch of magnets?!?!?!?!

 

I think he (or she) means the lot of 30 Morgans was $870.

 

Geez, if you buy it close to melt value, and it's 90%, might as well be a grab bag!

 

Weighing the coin will certainly indicate a fake but there are counterfeits that are weighing up perfect.
The best method of spotting a fake Morgans is the magnet slide test. This involves sliding the coin down a length of magnet or magnets and not sliding a magnet down the coin. You may also want to watch the demonstration on youtube concerning the "cartwheel effect"although this method only works if the coin still has some lustre.
I no longer feel comfortable buying Morgans or Peace dollars unless they are from an old collection and I can handle them in person.

 

Ok, so what do you recommend he do?

I was assuming he did not buy BU coins and certainly wouldn't recommend sliding BU coins down a slide of rough magnets. I see no problem with sliding non - BU coins down a smooth, one piece magnetic surface on to a padded surface.
His options are limited at this point unless he wants to send them in for grading.
He could also take them to a coin show and get a free opinion and avoid a third party grader all together. I purchased some Morgans myself not to long ago that I am not 100% about so I know how he feels right now. I avoid Morgans and Peace dollars altogether now.

 

Can't you simply put a layer of saran wrap over the magnet?

 

Well, he could buy some of the current crop of replicas (plenty available on eBay for two or three dollars with free shipping) so he has some actual "in hand" examples of fakes for comparison purposes. If you examine a genuine coin and a fake coin under a 10X loupe, you will soon learn to recognize the differences (as subtle as they may be).

Since the OP only paid about seven bucks over melt (as silver continues to spiral downward), one would have to assume that the coins are "junk silver", with most probably grading in the VG range. A trip down the slide won't hurt these much.

Thanks is also in order to the OP for posting the video of the "slide test". I had never seen that before.

 

Like Doug mentioned, you cannot disprove a negative, so you can never "prove" a coin is authentic. All you can do is get to the point where the market accepts it as authentic. Its a rough rule of life, but true. Philosophy, while truthful, sucks sometimes.

With the flexibility in counterfeits adjusting metal in their products, its harder than it used to be to weed them out. This is all of the more reason I implore everyone to never rely on ANYTHING to prove a coin is authentic. If you have little tests to prove its NOT authentic, by all means do them. Old timers did this all of the time, and would check weights, sizes, reed counts, etc. The best test, is to know your coins! Become an expert on what a real Morgan is like. Buy one from a trusted dealer, and really study it. I am sure I look like a total geek to my wife looking at ancient coins under a microscope, weighing them, looking at different areas over and over. Get to know a real coin, and in hand fakes will just seem "off" even if you aren't sure what. This is why I am always very hesitant to label a coin good or bad by photos alone. I don't trust it like so many appear to that a person can truly make that determination without the coin in hand. Your mind picks up so many hundreds of bits of information subconsciously when you handle a coin that this becomes what "feel right" on an authentic one, and "feels wrong" when handling a fake.

Just my opinion.

Chris

 

True... and in the words of master forger Mark Hofmann:

“If I can produce something so correctly, so perfect, that the experts declare it to be genuine, then for all practical purposes, it is genuine.”