Other than the St. Gaudens double eagle, what other, if any, counterfeits is the Omega counterfeiter known for or suspected of? Also, anybody collect counterfeits? If so, pictures would be much appreciated. Thanks.
Which type of counterfeits? Contemporary or modern? There is a huge difference. Many collectors collect contemporary counterfeits, since they were not made to deceive collectors. In many cases they are more valuable than the coins they were imitating. Regarding the Omegas, I believe the thought was they came out of the middle east, (Lebanon or Syria). As such, I am sure the same people were responsible for many of the other forgeries that came from those countries in the 70's. It was a dark time for coin collectors, similar to today. The Hobby Protection act was passed partly these fakes flooding the country.
Well, if you want to believe Wikipedia, he also counterfeited some $3 and $10 pieces. Maybe some more knowledgable members will chime in...
I had a $3 piece that I put up here a while ago and people said that he did a lot of 1882 $3. Lucky for me mine happened to be one of them! He did a pretty good job, if I say so myself. :thumb:
In the way that it cost me over $800 because I was fooled by it. Just a little sarcasm that's all, not lucky at all because I wanted a real one. :thumb:
He did without question and I actually met the guy he bought it from. It was just a little sarcasm and joking around in my first post.
A little cheekiness that I did not catch. I am glad it turned out alright. From what I have read, there is a market for these counterfeits.
There is, Omega counterfeits are somewhat collectible in their own right. (Most fake gold coins are just worth their bullion value but I would imagine a properly identified Omega would sell for a couple hundred more than that.) I don't know if Mr Omega did anything else but he was known for 1907 high relief double eagles and 1882 three dollar gold pieces.
Conder, do you remember if he was associated with the Lebanese forgeries from the 70's? I had always wondered if those two things were related. Btw, it was not just US coins counterfeited pretty well in this timeframe. There were a great deal of ancients and world coins also counterfeited.
I don't know if he was involved with Lebanese counterfeitors or not.. I do know that many people mistakenly give credit for his discovery to PCGS, but he was actually identified by the experts at ANACS back in the early 70's. From the time frame of the discovery and the prevalence of the Lebonese fakes at the same time there could be a connection. His fakes though were typically of better quality than the Lebanese fakes.
I assume so. They fooled everyone and, would probably continued to do so if the counterfeiter didn't have conceit and place an almost imperceptible omega symbol on the coin.
His omega sign may have been a bit presumptuous thanks to Mark Hofmann. And if not Hofmann it will be someone else. There is alwsys someome better if I may say so without being presumptuous.
