Circulated 1896-P Morgan Dollar Proof or Business strike?

Can anyone shed some light on whether this is a circulated Morgan proof or business strike or just a Morgan with a damaged rim? I've read the terms wire edge, razor edge, and raised rim, but do not really know what they mean. Any thoughts are welcome. Thanks all, Ron

 

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Well circulated business strike. The rims are toned, so that may give the illusion of something else, but I see nothing to indicate a proof strike.

 

I'm wondering if it's real surfaces just look off to me.

 

It's a counterfeit. Check out the denticals at 3:00 on the reverse.

 

Yeah, didn't catch that. You are right. I thought it was just an ugly Morgan, circulated. Definite fake.

 

thanks you all. What is it about the denticles at 3:00 that make it clearly a fake? You are right, it is an ugly one! I did have a very well respected coin dealer in the DC area look at it in person. He said it was real, but it had been tinkered with. Maybe jewelry bezel or something?

 

If it has been authenticated as genuine, it could have been tooled. Why bother tooling a common date like that? That is when dental equipment is used to highlight and outline surfaces on a coin to make it look more attractive and sharp.

 

Find a different dealer......

Edit to add that not all dealers know all coin series and the current crop of counterfeits coming out of China are better than this example so all need to be vigilant.

 

I say its counterfeit. Look at the 9 in the date and the stars. And like LindeDad said, find another dealer.

 

It looks like it has been sandblasted...

 

That surface appearance is somewhat typical of lower quality Chinese counterfeits. The dies used for the newer high quality replicas are much better.

 

That´s a counterfeit, You can see that clearly on the surface of the coin.

 

Even before reading others opinions, my first thought seeing your image was that the coin was a fake.

 

The date type/font is always a dead giveaway on these crappy counterfeits. The 6 is way off. I can't beleive a dealer said it was real!!! Not even close. I'm no expert, but that's a horrible fake. Does it pass the ring test?

That's when you flip the coin with your thumbnail and listen for the distinct 'ringing' noise that silver coins make. Just don't do it with anything super valuable!

 

Without even reading past this post, the OP's coin is absolutely counterfeit. Nothing to indicate a business strike or anything else but a fake.

 

I agree that the coin is counterfeit, but that is really not the issue since circulated 1896-P's are only worth a little over melt. The crux of the issue is whether or not this thing is silver.

 

Hence my ring test suggestion.

 

Lower grades of silver alloy will still ring.....

 

Nickel, copper, and even pot metal will ring, you just have to know what you're listening for.

 

Personally, if you know its fake I would never even try to make a couple of bucks on whether its silver or not. Silver is too easy to imitate SG, and surface coatings of silver can fool testing equipment. Not worth the risk to me.

OP, this is a bad fake. There are way better ones out there. If this coin wasn't SCREAMING fake to you within half a second, then you should definitely spend time learning how to identify fakes before spending any money on such coins. If this coin is for sale at a dealer, (and not clearly marked FAKE), you just found out what dealer to NEVER trust, ever. heck, even if the dealer was selling this as a fake I would never buy from him, since he should never sell fakes anyway, and should put this in his black cabinet. All good dealers have collections of fakes they have taken off the market, bad dealers just sell them, perpetuating the problems.