Fake Morgans!

I'm a Morgan man and I had to look real close, that is one good fake! Thanks for posting it. Good luck, be safe, and Happy Holidays

 

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I knew those were fake as soon as I saw them. A quick scan on the obverse and reverse and I was done. I bought a fake seated dollar about 20 years ago at a small coin show. I knew it was a fake and it was labeled as a fake. I think I paid $30.00 for it. It was dated 1847. It looked good but, wasn't the correct diameter and felt light. This was when these thing were first showing up in the USA. As of right now if you go on Facebook there are a number of operations selling fake Morgan dollars and fake silver eagles. What is also fake are the reviews they post on their site. They're selling silver eagles and Morgan dollars for $9.95. That price is the first and biggest red flag. Even a junk Morgan dollar will cost you about $19.00 and a silver eagle will cost you around $30.00. Those prices mean something. If silver is running around $25.00 per once there aren't any dealers that will sell you one for $9.95 when he could sell them at melt and get around $25.00 for them. Watch out for fake slabs and I've even seen fake CAC stickers. Buying raw or even slabbed coins on EBAY from someone you never heard of at a really low price should be an instant warning. DON'T BUY IT!!! However, there are some well know dealers that sell on EBAY so don't assume every person on EBAY is trying to scam you but, it goes back to the old saying of Buyer be Ware.

There's even a YouTube video showing how the Chinese are making these. They will make you any coin you want.

 

I have file of pictures full of this stuff.

Here is how they rip you off with a fake coin in a fake slab. Here is a bad slabbed coin:




Heritage auctioned the real coin in April 2016. The crooks took the serial number on a genuine slab and put it their fake. Unfortunately checking to see if the serial number is real and agrees with the coin is not enough. You have to see the coin to make sure. Sadly PCGS does not have a picture of the coin on their site. If you click on the Heritage auction sale line that is on the PCGS site, you will see that the real coin looks different.

 

Denticles are also my first go-to, and i'm not a Morgan guy.

Look at how uneven they are, some are squared, some are a bit round-ish, the spacing between them, etc. they should be perfect on a real coin. look at enough real ones, and you'll see how they are supposed to be.

I had a similar situation with a trade dollar - Stated as a US seller, and the image was of a genuine coin. What I got came from some third world country, and looked like garbage. When I get home I'll post a pic.

 

This is what I got. It is not what was pictured...

 

Unfortunately there is no simple 1 - 2 - 3, because the product of every counterfeiter is different. The best way to spot fakes is to examine thousands of known genuine coins. When their features are fix in your mind if a counterfeit comes along it will immediately give you an uncomfortable feeling that something is "wrong" with the coin. You will know something is wrong even before you know what that something is. Then you know to start some in depth comparisons to find out exactly what is wrong.

 

Three years ago I bought this 1891 CC from a seller who sold mainly diapers. That should have been my first clue. The coin came wrapped in padding; yes, a diaper pad.

Passed the magnet test but not the drop test in my opinion. Fails the weight test: 26.08 grams. I paid $30 for it so I decided just to keep it. I believe it is fake.

 

The second “1” in the date is larger than the first “1.” That’s a problem.

 

I HAVE A FEW, I BOUGHT EM OFF EBAY FROM CHINA..THEY COST ME 3,00 EACH, I BOUGHT THEM FOR NOVELTY, THOUGH I KNEW WHAT I WAS GETTING,LOL

 

These typically don't bother to match the barcode with the cert#. This one has 05938507 as the last 8 digits which is not a valid cert. I have QR Reader on my phone. The slab is pretty bad anyway but scanning them is quick verification. I've seen better slabs on forums that do match the cert# with the barcode though.

 

fake Morgans on Amazon
"SeTing Antique Great American (1804-1922) Old Morgan Liberty One-Dollar Coins - US Commemorative Coin-Teaching Tool for Kids-Handmade Coin LifeShop 1862"
https://www.amazon.com/SeTing-Dollars-1804-1926-Collecting-Silver-Original/dp/B07DB3MQNT/ref=pd_rhf_se_s_bmx_0_2/136-0905506-7696310?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B07DB3MQNT&pd_rd_r=fdc7affe-c7b1-4ab3-9eff-4b15457ad59e&pd_rd_w=j6Dob&pd_rd_wg=ODedZ&pf_rd_p=3a0bd4d8-5087-48a5-8847-1b9d58eaefc3&pf_rd_r=4TWWQTYB7Y7BXQEV58F2&psc=1&refRID=4TWWQTYB7Y7BXQEV58F2

 

fake Morgans on Amazon
"SeTing Antique Great American (1804-1922) Old Morgan Liberty One-Dollar Coins - US Commemorative Coin-Teaching Tool for Kids-Handmade Coin LifeShop 1862"
https://www.amazon.com/SeTing-Dollars-1804-1926-Collecting-Silver-Original/dp/B07DB3MQNT/ref=pd_rhf_se_s_bmx_0_2/136-0905506-7696310?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B07DB3MQNT&pd_rd_r=fdc7affe-c7b1-4ab3-9eff-4b15457ad59e&pd_rd_w=j6Dob&pd_rd_wg=ODedZ&pf_rd_p=3a0bd4d8-5087-48a5-8847-1b9d58eaefc3&pf_rd_r=4TWWQTYB7Y7BXQEV58F2&psc=1&refRID=4TWWQTYB7Y7BXQEV58F2