Counterfeit / Altered Coin Of The Day/Week

That's exactly right. I can't see any detail on a 3 Cent Silver without reading glasses or a loupe. I doubt the average person carried around glasses or a loupe during the Civil War.

These fake little rascals probably slipped past a lot of people whose eyesight was less than perfect.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

I may not have been correct in my estimation of wages. For example, a recruit going into the Union army received a "signing bonus" of $250 and a monthly wage of $25. And that's for g'ment work.

The annual average wage was under $300 until almost 1870....That would make the daily wage UNDER 10 cents a day.

(Ahh for the "god ol' days."

 

Taking into account for a 6 day work week, that's a Dollar a day, not 10 cents. :goof:

$300 divided by 312 = 96 cents per day average on a 6 day work week
$300 divided by 260 = $1.15 dollars per day average on a 5 day work week

Ribbit

Ps: Remember that these are dated 1860 & 1861, which means it was probably several years after that when they were made so around 1870 or later, which places them in the timeframe of a $1 a day wage or more. Counterfeiters don't put the actual year date on them when they counterfeited them. Also, I have a friend who found a blob of melted coins and other items, in a Confederate Camp, so maybe that's what they were doing? Us Southerners are resourceful when need be.

Pps: When I was living in Costa Rica a few years ago (2003), minimum wage for a non-skilled laborer was $250.00 per month.

Pps: I remember reading books by Ralph Moody, when I was growing up, and in them he talks about working as a lumberjack and getting paid a dollar a day and that was close to the turn of the century. His books are great books for young peeps to read, if you can get them away from their game consoles or computers or cell phones? :whistle:

 

You might want to check your math.

If a person made a dollar a day and worked every day of the year he would make $365. So if he made a total of $300 for the year (assuming he worked every day of the year) his daily wage would be slightly less than $1. (Doing the math, his daily wage is $0.82.) This is substantially more than "UNDER 10 cents a day".

EDIT

Ooops! I should have read all the threads before posting. Toad beat me to it.

 

EEP! My brain slipped a cog.........again! Blame it on oxygen starvation because of sleep apnea. Yeah, that's what it is....:desk:

 

When my life is hectic and I'm not getting the sleep I need, I make more errors than normal, not that normal is that good either.

Ribbit

 

OK - after a page of Civil War economics we will be getting back to the actual topic-

This is a crude attempt at an 1812 Capped Bust Half Dollar-

This coin really should not fool anyone but for the sake of the counterfeit collection Im posting it -

Note the terrible design work & the orange peel effect on the surface of the coin-

 

I love it. That is a nice example of a contemporary counterfeit.

 

Stupid question time again , what's a contemporary counterfeit . :kewl::whistle:
rzage:smile

 

contemporary - happening, existing or coming into being during the same period of time

A contemporary counterfeit is a counterfeit that was created during the time the genuine version of the coin circulated.

 

Coin of the day 8/6/08

Todays coin is an 1894 $10 Liberty Gold Eagle

Once again this coins diagnostics to show that it is not authentic are the 1st off the "spikes" from the careless die sinker & then some other design details that dont sit right.

 

What's your opinion on manufacture? Gold plated cast?

Very realistic if you don't give it a microscopic examination.

Ribbit

 

I believe that it is a struck gold piece, although the pictuer doesnt show it well the color is right on & the weight is correct.

 

What about gold content?

Ribbit

 

Sorry , I dont get that technical once I know its a fake-

 

The 3CS counterfeits are widely believed to have been done during the Civil War. The only dates I'm aware of are 1860 and 1861.

 

It looks struck to me. Struck coins have luster; cast coins do not.

Also, the tool marks that appear as raised marks on the coin are scratched into the surface of the die by the counterfeiter as he is trying to clean up the surface of his die. I don't think kind of attention to detail is given to cast coin dies (but I could be wrong).

 

It has to be struck , if cast it wouldn't have the diagnostic toolmarks ?
rzage

 

Regarding the lines under the e and s. How do you know if they are die cracks or tooling marks? Thanks