Fake trade dollars

Hello,
I am a new member and I was wondering about these two trade dollars I picked up a while back. One is an 1873 CC and one is an 1874 CC. I bought them for knowing that they were probably fakes and indeed they are way under weight. One weighs in at 21.07 grams and one is 22.16 grams. I was looking for some opinions on how good or bad these forgeries are.They are in my collection only as comparisons of fakes compared to authentic trade dollars. Thanks.

 

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To the general public? Pretty convincing I would say. No obvious errors to a photo. To a collector? I would hope in two seconds an obvious fake. Mushy details, air pockets, pot metal look, and that is simply from photos without any weight or size data.

 

First coin has detail that is way sharper than normal.

Second one has characteristic weakness on the area near the rim.

 

Fellow CT brethren.... I could be way off base here. But the thought occurs to me.... Could our critique of these pieces be assisting somebody to perfect their design?

 

Ok. Thanks. So you would say that they are pretty obvious fakes?

 

The first: yes. The second: not as much.

 

That is always the danger, but if you don't try to teach people what to look for, you can't combat the problem.

 

That is certainly not what I meant to imply here. I am just a collector and wanted some other insight on these. Didn't mean to alarm anyone.

 

I think it was made in jest...

 

Thanks

 

Here are the two pieces with photos cropped and enhanced to show off the issues with these things more clearly. I hope you don't mind, @William M. Yazujian.

I maintain a "virtual black cabinet" of counterfiet coins. Now and then I go to the local clubs and do a Power Point presentation on them.

 

Not at all

 

Glad to hear that. This counterfeit business is way out of control. Thanks.

 

Always good to get a reminder about such items. Thanks.

 

Sometimes people come on, and want to know how good their fakes are, so they can sell them on EBay. I have a suspicious and skeptical nature.

 

That's a good thing. These will not be for sale on Ebay. They will stay in my collection for reference. Thanks.

 

Are they magnetic?

 

No, they are not magnetic

 

Any raw TD is fake... in other words, guilty until proven innocent :-D

 

Sadly that has become far more true than false.