how do you spot fake Trade Dollars, anyway?

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I'll have to photo mine. It's a cleaned unc obverse although reverse is quite nice. I bought it in the early days of Heritage from their 1988 Fall DEA sale. It wasn't DEA seized property: those were stacks of early (1795-1804) $5 & $10 gold pieces.

Paid too much for it but I don't know of Chinese counterfeits being a big problem in the 80's.

 

That one is not real. 1883 is a proof only year and proofs are extremely well struck. The weakness in the design in the centers and the mushy poorly defined denticles around the border are obvious signs

 

A friend of mine got these boxes of coins after her ex husband died and she just asked me if i could find anything out about them..there are all different kinds i just started with the trade dollars and i couldnt tell at all if they were real or not after researching forever online lol so i just decided to join and get some more seasoned opinions

 

The 1879 is another fake. Same reason

 

Ok thanks a bunch for your help

 

Post what you have. Chances are there’s some real coins in there too

 

I also took a picture of a silver 3 cent coin i believe, i have never seen a coin like that so i took a picture of it..heck i have never even heard of the trade dollars lol

 

Here’s a few real proof trade dollars to compare details to

 

That looks questionable to me but I’m not the best judge on them @C-B-D @Paddy54

 

That is without a doubt, a FAKE.

 

The date is all wrong. Digits wrong style and size. It is a counterfeit.

 

Thanks. I thought so but was having a really hard time seeing the pics in my phone

 

Sorry not the best pics i know but thanks for all the help..i wonder if the whole lot are fakes lol

 

Nope, sorry. As @C-B-D said, digits are wrong; also, that blank spot down the middle of the shield wouldn't appear on a real coin.

It's possible the whole lot are fakes, but don't go throwing them out just yet.

 

Hi all, I started this thread as a place to post information on how to determine if trade dollars were real or counterfeit, not as a place to post suspect coins for opinions and not as a thread for posting any suspect coin (ie, 3 cent pieces). I realize I have no control over these matters, but if members would post coins they have questions about in a separate thread, and use this thread mainly for reference (as intended, with updates or corrections to diagnostics for fakes/genuine trade dollars) I think it would be less cluttered and more useful. Just my opinion.
Great looking proofs, Mainebill, nice images for comparing to questionable coins.

 

Agreed. Why don’t you start a real or fake thread and post pics of what you have. Thanks ksparrow. I wish I could get them some friends but with an infant son my coin collecting in any major way has been put on temporary hold

 

Fiz, when you post an image please select full size. I can't really see anything on these images because they are too tiny. And when I enlarge them to a viewable size it just destroys the image.

 

Hey, I'm just glad you had time to post what you have! Hope you all are getting some sleep. As always, family first!