Possible fake trade dollar?

My friend recently told me about this trade dollar he picked up years back. He said he paid about $90 for it at the time.

Recently, he became interested in selling it. He was a little suspicious it was fake, and fairly sure it had been at least cleaned, so he took it to a dealer to get their opinion. After they examined the coin, he was informed that it was indeed probably fake. The dealer told him that, while it WAS silver, it weighted *too much*.

Here are the pictures he sent me. Any opinions or ideas, people?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

I am not a counterfeit expert, but a wise dealer told me this about trade dollars: if it isn't graded/slabbed consider it fake

 

I'll go with real.

 

Please - quit "stabbing" the Trade Dollars!!
And yes - it has been cleaned!! That is why it hasn't actually been SLABBED by a reputable TPG!

 

Haven't gotten the hang of this I phone keyboard obviously

 

Any ideas why it might weigh too much? Thats really weird to me.

 

What did they quote for weight, and was their measuring equipment calibrated and capable of sufficient resolution? Does the dealer know the correct weight tolerance for Trade Dollars? Dealers have to be generalists, and there's no guarantee that dealer is an expert on either Trade Dollars or counterfeit Trade Dollars.

Nothing stands out upon gross inspection of these images - a couple little things I could easily attribute to distortion caused by angled imagery through plastic - but that opinion doesn't mean any more (to me) than what the dealer said.

 

Definitely cleaned. The weight variance might be enough to condemn it as fake if it's enough. I don't know enough to say whether it's real or fake, but nothing jumps out as obviously fake to me. If it's a fake, it's a pretty good one.

 

How did you accurately weigh a coin in a plastic holder? Is the holder's weight known or the coin can be removed?

 

I will try to get actual weight info. My friend is in Las Vegas and I am in Chicago, so I cannot weigh it myself, but I will ask him to get an accurate weight. I am just reporting what he told me

 

Looks totally real. Tell the dealer to get his scales checked.

 

You can get a digital scale on Ebay for $20 with 0.01g resolution that'll settle the weight issue; something every collector should have. Trouble is, there are some pretty_darn_good Trade fakes out there, including silver ones, so that wouldn't be conclusive.

 

Looks very real to me...I,ve seen dozens of Trade Dollars not in slabs way before anyone ever thought of making a fake. I just bought a 1976 raw one, and am sending it in to ANACS for a $10 grading...Hope its not fake! the dealer I bought it from doesn,t think it,s a phony, but will refund my $150 if it is. He had a coin shop in Manila for many years and handled hundreds of these, so I trust his judgement.

 

It is also possible that the dealer forgot that trade dollars weigh more than morgan and peace dollars.

Nothing jumps out at me that says fake.

 

Genuine.
I disagree on the "cleaned" assessment. It looks to have a normal circulation wear and old tarnish. It may have been rubbed with a thumb a little bit. I think the major grading services would still certify it as VF-35.

 

100% real and should do VF30ish at PCGS. It is a technical 35 but it has neutral to slightly negative eye appeal which sometimes causes grade liners to fall back to a market grade. It is worth VF30 money.

 

I like it and would buy it for a fair price. Looks OK to me.

 

I had an 1840 and 2 dealers told me it was fake I sent to pcg they graded it as real deal send it in I would

 

From all outward appearances, someone needs to tell him to find a new dealer.