Good example of a counterfeit 1876-S Trade Dollar?

I was pretty excited to get this one in the mail which arrived earlier today. As I do with all my coins if they’re silver I’ll do a light ring test on it and weigh it, also if I have other types of this coin and I feel something is off I’ll compare size and placement of numbers and letters etc. it passed the ring test and as this is one of the few trade dollars I’ve owned everything looked fine to me until I threw her on my scale what put her at 19.2 grams instead of the 27.2 grams sadly. I looked into and the counterfeits do usually run around the 18-19 gram mark. Is there any other visible signs anyone may see on this coin that easily screams counterfeit for any future purchases I may encounter? Possibly the grainy look the coin in its fields? In my opinion if I didn’t weigh it i probably would have not caught it.

best regards,
Travis

 

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I'm no expert however the fact that 2/3 of the denticals on the obverse are non existent would concern me.

 

My first impression is the tick marks around the edge of the coin. The obverse tick marks just seem to irregular and on the reverse, over half are missing. Another thing I noticed is the A's on the reverse of trade and dollar are missing half the letter. I'm not an expert but that's what I see.

 

Just now seeing that!

 

Just seeing the denticles now, also I just noticed the wheat on the obverse is missing and doesn’t look as strong and complete as it should if it were this grade.

 

Sorry, the term is denticles.

 

I got what you were putting down.

 

Don't feel bad, I hope you can return for refund.

 

Yes I have sent the request over now on eBay, I was pretty excited to finally get a trade dollar that was not harshly cleaned, maybe next time.

 

It looks like a casting. That's something you can look for, as when you recast an object you lose both crisp details and can also have it appear to have too much unbalanced wear.

 

Good to know! The longer I stared at it I started noticing it like wearing in places that did not make sense. Also the fields have a weird texture to them smooth but just looks off. From what I’ve gathered Trade Dollars are one of the more counterfeit coins.

 

Surface texture has the look of a cast counterfeit.

 

How does the rim look from the side?
Does it have a line or seam where the two sides of a casting come together?

 

If you don't mind my asking, how much did you give for it?
A real Trade Dollar in similar grade would be North of $100.00, probably close to $200.00.

 

All the details don’t look as sharp as they should.

 

I was thinking possibly 250$ and no it looks Reeded on the edge all the way around but some of the lines aren’t complete and look weak. I paid 162$ for it I will ad their pictures. I look for coins when the seller posts bad pictures because I can still make out some of the details enough to have a ball park range it can be hit or miss though like this one was.

 

Those are some terrible photos, but still clear enough to tell that the denticles are entirely wrong. eBay Buyer Protection is a good thing.

 

With those pix you are right that it's hit or miss, and you know you missed. Pix are done like that on purpose. Of course I can't prove it, but my money would be on this guy knowing full well that the coin is fake and that his pix are just meant to make it easier to fool you. However, you probably thought that maybe this guy just doesn't know what he's got and maybe other potential buyers would be put off by the bad pix and you could get a good deal.
Lesson learned, I hope.

 

And that lesson, once again: "eBay Buyer Protection is a good thing."

 

They probably did know because I checked their other listings and the pictures were not nearly as bad more clear and better lighting. They accepted my return within minutes though so I am not to upset. And no lesson never learned because there’s been times I paid less then 100$ for some coins that were well worth over a few hundred, always can return if fake, cleaned or damaged if not stated in the listing. But waiting for the return and getting the funds back is a hassle to wait for sometimes.