1888 Morgan doubts and questions...

Hey everybody. I have a Morgan Dollar here...1888. Two ANA members looked at it, said it was real... a few things I have noticed is that everything on the front of the dollar seems bigger.... when I tap it the pitch is higher than all of my other Morgan Dollars (is that an accurate composition test? LOL) it seems to weigh slightly lighter than the standard weight... also the rotation is off. notice pictures they are accurate for the angle. two people said it was absolutely real....I just don't get it. can anyone give me some insight on this.

 

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It is really hard to tell from the pics, but the Letters in the legend on the obverse are suspect IMO. Especially the R I B and S in Pluribus.
The overall appearance looks odd, but could be the pics or the fact that is looks cleaned.

 

This may help????

:kewl:
http://www.vamworld.com/1888-P+VAMs

 

The right wing in the eagle makes it suspicious for me how it fades out a lot. Its either fake or HARSHLY cleaned to death. Also if it real, you could get a nice premium for the rotated part, but that also makes me think its fake becuase thats also very uncommon.

 

Here are some very close up pictures of the dollar. thanks for trying to help all. I know I could probably faq this, but what does VAM stand for?

 

It is an acronym for the authors of the "Bible"..........Leroy Van Allen and A. George Mallis.

Something just doesn't seem right. Even the denticles on the reverse look odd.

Chris

 

The lack of detail on the reverse is troublesome... and many of the later crop of Chinese counterfeits have a slightly (15 to 20 degrees) rotated reverse. From the pictures I would say fake... but I'd have to see it in hand to be 100%.

 

The more I look at it and compare it to some of my known counterfeits, the more I'm leaning towards fake. I've seen that "weak" eagle before.

 

And that is why I am confused.

The two people that held it and the person I bought it off of, was pretty sure it was real. I have no idea.

 

Sorry to say, but the close up clinched it for me.

 

Thanks for the input guys, at least my detection skills are something as I first had doubts before I asked around.

 

I agree with everyone else, definitely a fake. Imo, the dead giveaway is the lettering in "Pluribus", it's way off, especially the L and the R. The date and the denticles (at least on the obv) are actually pretty good for a counterfeit though.

 

It appears to be a Chinese counterfeit. It's all wrong.

 

The "L" was the first thing I noticed. I know what more to look for now at least. Thanks a lot guys.

 

I wonder what the two ANA members were thinking when looking at it in hand.

 

Me too! I took them for their word and now it is probably too late to do anything about it.

 

I wrote that silver dollar counterfeit site that comes up on google and asked if they wanted to post pictures. The guy I bought it from when I mentioned that it might be counterfeit told me he bought a whole lot of 200 dollars in 1991 and just sold 4 to a dealer last Friday and a whole bunch since he bought them... Now I am wondering if they were all the same strike or mold or whatever they do to make those things.

 

Who knows, lol, but remember, there's no test you have to pass to become a ANA member.

 

Yeah, but for the new collector they did seem rather knowledgeable though.

I am excited though, that even though I am new, and I should have went with my gut, I initially had doubts about its authenticity the first day I got it.

 

The grainy suface in the "worn" areas of the hairline indicates this is a Chinese cast fake. The worn areas should be smooth except for scratches and dents.