I just picked this up at a well established coin shop in Tokyo, Ginza Coins. Is there any reason to suspect it is counterfeit?
Not a Morgan expert but I have owned two of these GSA Morgans since the 1970’s and that holder looks genuine to me as does the Morgan.
Thanks everyone for the replies. So now I am a bit bummed out. I saw two of these GSA dollars at the shop for 28,000 yen each, which at the current exchange rate is less than $200. When seeing the insanely low price I bought one, but then started worrying about potential counterfeits considering it seemed to good to be true. So with less than an hour before I had to be at Tokyo Station to catch the airport train, I played it safe and took it back to the shop to exchange it. I went home with this 1000 yen Shinkansen bullet train commemorative which has a design I really like and is evidently in high demand given its 35,000 yen price tag. Is it common to see a US coin selling overseas for such a steep discount? I understand that the demand there is lower and it would be harder to move, but a GSA dollar would be easy to sell on eBay for a lot more even from Japan. Although I don’t think a reputable shop like Ginza would knowingly sell a counterfeit, US coins are not their area of expertise and even if I kept the coin I might have still had lingering doubts. Now I have a coin that is a great memory of Japan and is the most valuable and unique modern coin in my collection.
I think that Morgan would have been worth the risk. It doesn't stand out as a counterfeit. The characteristics of the surfaces, minor flaws and chatter from hitting other Morgans in a bag looks real to me. Makes you wonder how it got there. Cool looking commem though.
That's a cool modern Japanese coin! And the cheapest on eBay is 249, so the price you paid is in line. As far as the Morgan, $200 was about the going rate for these raw GSA Morgans (and even low MS slabbed pieces) before the 2020 bump. The shop might have had it for a while and just did not raise the prices over the years (quite possible they did not keep up with the increases in the US market).
Looks ok, but those holders are easily opened so you have to be careful, there perfect for Chinese fakes.
The coin looks a little banged up for one that made it into a GSA Uncirculated holder, but it looks genuine to me. There are pieces that don’t have “Uncirculated” on the holder which the GSA graders didn’t think made the grade.
