A question on American Silver Eagles.

i don’t have a photo and, I must not be asking the question right for Google to give me the answer.

I went in to my local pawnshop a couple of days ago. A, raw, 2000 Silver Eagle was in the showcase. Upon inspection, I noticed that the alignment between the reverse and obverse was, ⬆️⬆️ and not ⬆️⬇️ (if the emojis ain’t showing... up arrow and up arrow versus up arrow and down arrow). Is this common or a fantastic error or a cheap knockoff from China? The only answer I could come up with was through looking at slabbed Eagles which brought me to the conclusion that the alignment should be, one up one down. Am I correct?

 

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Yes.

 

So the advice would be... go buy the darn thing before someone else realizes and scoops it up. Yes?

 

Error? Possibly.

Cheap knockoff in a pawnshop? Probably.

My local shop had a bunch of ASEs out on display. One was noticeably duller than the others. I looked more closely, started to see other things wrong about it -- then saw that the sticker said "Reproduction", and had it at only $6.00, instead of $23 like all the others.

 

If you want a fake, sure. Or even if you want an actual error and won't be disappointed with a fake. I'd be disappointed with a fake, though, especially if I paid a real-silver price for it.

If you do go back, take pictures first. Or at least take a good scale and a magnet.

 

It is why I didn’t buy it on the spot, don’t want a fake, not yet anyways. If I recall correctly, he was asking $30 Canadian.

 

Go back with a magnet and scale, and disappoint him instead.

 

FYI: For US coinage, "one arrow up & one arrow down" is called Coin Turn while "both arrows up" is called Medal Turn. Some countries use "Medal Turn" for their coinage. ~ Chris

 

Some rotation, sure, but a perfectly aligned full 180 degree rotation seems more likely to be a knockoff made that way due to a lack of knowledge.

 

Yes, there are quite a lot of those.

 

Cool. Thanks. I’ve only ever thought of it as alignment. Learning already, day two of decade three.

 

I’m going in today, if it’s open, to check weight and other things. Thanks.

 

I've always used the term coin alignment and medal alignment.

Maybe Chris was thinking that it was his turn at the pool table.

(FYI: I've seen the term turn and orientation used as well as alignment. It's just fun to give Chris a friendly poke once in a while )

 

Results are in... and, of course, half way home I remembered that I once again forgot to take a photo.

Weight... 28 not 31
Magnetic
Reeded
Date numbers rounded top edge not straight
No mint mark and certainly didn’t look like a proof, kinda dark and toning in spots.

Fake. Yes?

 

As long as you don't poke me with the "chalk end" of the stick! ~ Chris

PS. When I finish at my turn at the table, the game is usually over.

 

If it's attracted to a magnet, it ain't silver. If it ain't silver, it ain't a real ASE. Congrats on keeping your $30CDN -- although I'll bet you could've talked the seller down, especially after he saw the thing stick to a magnet.

 

Your numbers are convincing. Yes. What did the dealer say? jim

 

He looked kinda weirded out by my inspection. I had to apologize for the bad news. He didn’t say what he paid but did say it wasn’t much. He just plopped it back into the showcase.

 

And that's a Dealer / Store I would not trust - Plain and Simple!
Do not go back!

 

Well, that should tell you something about him:

1) He's dishonest. Either he paid super-low for what he thought was a silver coin, or he bought it knowing it was fake, and was trying to sell it as real.

2) He may not know what he's doing. Or maybe he was just lying to you.

3) He's still going to try to sell it as real. See (1) above.