Was this CC Morgan authentic?

I've never personally spotted a fake on ebay before and I don't go around looking for one, but I'm wondering about the authenticity of this one that just sold. I contacted the buyer.

http://cgi.ebay.com/1890-CC-MORGAN-SILVER-DOLLAR-CIRCULATED-VERY-NICE1890CC_W0QQitemZ270255337370QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item270255337370&_trksid=p3286.m14.l1318


The E and Y in Liberty look funny to me and the letters are really blocky. Even the beak on the eagle looks a little funny. The lower part of the B in Pluribus doesn't look right either. It's supposed to go out further than the top. What do you all think?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Look at the lower part of the 'E' on the obverse also. Really looks bad to me.

 

That's the ultra-rare Short Beak VAM!

All kidding aside, I don't know enough about these to tell if it's authentic but in comparing to others, I would say it is authentic. All the problems appear to be caused by circulation dings/wear. But like I said, I don't know enough about these to make the proper call. I just put my 2 cents in, so that means I'm 98 cents short of a full dollar.

Ribbit

 

The coin looks pretty rough. Kinda looks like a picture of a coin more than a counterfeit, but if it is real, he paid kinda high price. That grade CC (looks like a G4-6) should bring in only about $60 or so.

 

I think it's an authentic and rarely seen G-8.

 

When in doubt, don't buy. Considering the grade of that coin, you could buy better examples for close to the same price. Due to the wear and without better pics, I cannot tell with any certainty, but I could not see any major discrepancies.

 

cleaned?

 

Authenticity Of 1890CC Morgan

I am very new at coin collecting and I have recently bid on a 1980CC Morgan and won. Shortly after winning I was contacted by someone that questioned the authenticity of the coin. I have included some photos and would appreciate any help from more experienced collectors. Thanks, Chris:goof:

 

looks genuine to me

 

Thanks for your response. I am just starting and do not know much at all about coin collecting other that it is very interesting to me. I just joined this site a few mins. ago and I already like it. Seems to be a good place to learn. Thanks again, Chris

 

Hi Chris. I see you made it. Welcome to cointalk.

Here's the thread I started for this over in the US coin forums:

http://www.cointalk.org/showthread.php?t=39471

Some have already replied and may not reply again to this one. I'm still studying it myself. I'm not saying for sure it is not authentic. Some things about it just looked questionable to me. I'm not an expert but I have looked at quite a few of these. A good counterfeit will not be obvious.

I'm going to look at some more 1890 CCs.

 

Yes, this seems to be a great place to learn. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. Now I have to learn how to use this site. I think it will be well worth the time and effort. Thanks again

 

Hard to get anything by this crowd so I thought I'd do the editing B4 anybody else . . . it's 1890CC Morgan . . . I know it's just a typo but always fun to do the correcting. :kewl:

 

added mm?

 

Hey. Yeah, you'll get used to it quick. It's a pretty good format. I really like the feature that lets you arrow over a post and a box pops up with the first few lines of the post. So you can get an idea and decide whether it's worth opening or not.

Anyway, here's what should be a real one I'm comparing yours to.

http://images.google.com/imgres?img...w=115&prev=/images?q=1890-CC&gbv=2&hl=en&sa=G

There's a little info there about it. I thought the wing tips looked really close to the dentals on the rim but it appears thats normal.

Something that many counterfeits have in common are 'blocky' letters. Which Morgans have kind of blocky letters to begin with but the thin parts are thin and sharp. The E in E Pluribus Unum on yours looks suspect by the pic, but I could be wrong. It looks like the middle part is touching the bottom. It could just be worn down.

Hopefully we'll get some more opinions. Don't just take my word on it because I really don't know.

 

Thanks for the correction. You can really tell Im a pro at this coin collecting huh???

 

The wear looks a little funny , try weighing it it should weigh around 412 1/2 grains , also if you have a VAM book you could check the MM to make sure it was one used on that year & MM , I don't have mine here , will check for you tomorrow , also you could check for casting marks . Also check for any overlapping reeding on the 3rd side , ie edge , these are just some ways to check for counterfiets or altered MM . Though your is most likely real in that there aren't that many altered MM in that grade . JMO
rzage

 

What is a G8???

 

rzage is right. The condition is one thing you have going for you. Usually it isn't worth it to counterfeit something unless it's in a lot better condition so they can make more money. Or unless it's a much higher dollar coin. Some older coins though, may have been counterfeited and used in circulation during that time also.

For the most part, it should be very rare to find a counterfeit but these days, people are undoing slabs and putting fake coins or poorer graded coins back into the slabs and even putting in the correct #'s to match what's on the grading companies site. And the Chinese have sent a lot of counterfeit crap over here too. So you can never be too sure.

In comparing your coin with other ones, some things just bother me. It could be different dies that caused the uniqueness of yours but there were only around 2 million minted so I don't know how many they would have went through.

Basically, the beak seems short and curvy. The base of the '1' in 1890 looks really fat which is a prime characteristic of a counterfeit. The bottom of the 'D' in dollar looks fat and so do some of the I's. The base of the E in E Pluribus looks like it starts angling up early, where as there should be more of a straight thin line for the base.

Maybe I'm just seeing things on a well worn coin.