This is my biggest mistake as well as my biggest learning experience. When I was putting my 7070 together, there came a time when the Trade Dollar hole needed to be filled, being the one for bargains, I turned to (don't cringe too bad) ebay. Outcome being obvious, I still to this day don't think the seller intentionally sold me a fake. I believe he thought it was genuine as well, but needless to say, that doesn't help any. I didn't pay through the nose for it or anything, but alas, it is money long gone. From this I did learn more about Trade Dollars than I ever thought I would, and currently have a nice (but cleaned) Cherrypicked AU double die reverse 1878 S sitting at NGC as I type. Advice to buyers - The best thing you could possible do is know what a real trade dollar looks like. I read plenty before buying the fake about "details just aren't there" and "things not being as sharp as on a real one". Well that didn't help much since I had never paid much attention to the real ones prior to that. so see below for the fake and the real and compare for yourself. Fake: Real (although they're terrible pictures):
I honestly have no idea. If it is, its a different alloy than 90%. It weighs just about right, but makes a funny sound when balanced and tinged with pen on the rim. It doesn't sound like any other silver dollar I have and gives a sour tone rather than the lovely ring of silver, though it does ring for a while like silver does. I've never had it chemically tested or anything though.
The sound, the weight being slightly off, and just the general look of it. It matches so many of the cast fakes out there. I had it looked at by 3 dealers, including the one I worked for at the time and all said fake. It's close enough that it had to be examined, but all came to the eventual conclusion of fake. As I said above, just compare the details of the fake to the real and you'll see why most lead to the conclusion of fake.
That coin is so wrong, its almost intriguing and I would buy something like that just as a curio for a couple of dollars...
Oh jeez... I have an entire blog full of them that's growing by the day: http://fakes.numismetrica.com But here are some of my favorites. I think they were shooting for 1863, but even then... One of my 1902 Micro O Morgans. These guys even fooled TPGs for years. And a good broad shot of a chunk of my counterfeit collection as I'm sorting them by variety, documenting and marking them. Inexperienced "Cash For Gold" establishments are the friend of counterfeit collectors.
I just came across a 1928-p counterfeit peace dollar. High quality fake too. The thickness gave it away. Copper coating on the silver.
Fortunately for me, this is not a mistake coin. I bought it as a counterfeit. Thought it would be a good pick up for $4. I usually buy them when I see them for cheap. Rather buy a fake one and learn why its fake then a real one and learn why its fake.
I've been tinkering with the idea of slabbing counterfeit coins and on the label explain why it is fake. Example 1879-CC morgan dollar Counterfeit 28.5g
Why would you want to slab a Chinese fake ? I could see contempory fakes , but you'd need the knowledge to tell the difference .
So would I . I love it though when they mess one up so bad . Or put a date on after the US stopped minting them .
I was just thinking it would be good to send them along with packages and give them away at coin shows to help educate people
