I am thinking about purchasing this trade dollar but after reading the post on fake trade dollars I have doubts about it's authenticity. Being fairly new to coin collecting I would appreciate any help. I have enclosed photos of the obverse and reverse of the coin. Thank you.
It looks fishy to me. If you are new to collecting, stick with certified trade dollars until you familiarize yourself a little better with them. Trade dollars may be the most counterfeited coin of all time, and some of the modern fakes are VERY convincing even to very knowledgeable collectors.
Since nobody else has said it yet, welcome to CoinTalk. Is this a prospective online purchase, or can you examine the coin in hand? If the former, it's a giant leap of faith to buy on the basis of photos only, even good ones such as these. If the latter, is this being offered by a reputable dealer, or is the source otherwise trustworthy? Also in the latter case, you should get a weight, which won't validate the coin if correct, but would expose it if wrong. As far as trade dollars go, this is not a rarity, but the advice given above about how pervasive counterfeits of these are is spot on.
As mentioned above unless you are absolutely confident in the seller be extremely wary of buying a Trade dollar raw online. There are several things to look for when examining a Trade dollar to determine its authenticity most of which you can not do without the coin in hand.
Third star from top on right side is malformed and some of the denticles around that area appear a bit slanted (and one looks like the tip is broken). I don't like it.
The only thing I can see that may be wrong with it is the dentils are uneven , but that happens in all coins . I just wouldn't buy a raw coin off of ebay unless you know the series well , and the seller gives you a liberal return policy . It is a type II/II but that doesn't really mean anything unless they didn't make that marriage for the date which they did . If I were you I'd check the MM for size and position , if they are right I'd ask the seller for the weight , if correct I'd pull the trigger as it's a relatively inexpensive coin . But that's me . But for those with no experience in the series I'd advise to buy a slabbed coin .
What is your reason for wishing to purchase the coin? Are you interested in just a type example, or do you have a desire to collect and learn about the series?
