I'd love to see the fake! Always up for more education about the vermin that do those things. Thanks.
Looks like that was in a slab. Grade? I don't know a thing about trade dollars. Nice coin. I'd probably be prone to buy fakes. I know nothing about them!
Here's a bunch of pictures of the fake 1899, several with some raw comparison-specimens that I think they were maybe trying to duplicate in some form.
Those are some pretty good fakes that could fool a lot of people. I was going to ask if you weighed or tested them but your final photo answers that question. Thanks!
The LCS guy knows I'm particular to raw Morgans so he'll point out any new additions he's got when I walk in. I was picking some out and I asked him if he had an 1899's (he had one once but it was cleaned so I passed on it) when he says, "actually I do." He walked to his office, comes back and just hands it to me like it was spending change. I was thinking he was crazy for handling it like that, but when it hit my hand it was obviously considerably lighter than usual. Asked what the deal was with it being so light, to which he replied it is a counterfeit. But yeah, aside from the mushy details and off-weight of it, I was having a tough time finding any glaring flaws to indicate a fake. Counterfeiters are seemingly getting better, albeit slowly. Buying raw definitely has risks, so hopefully they don't figure out how to correct their mistakes anytime soon!
This is going to send the coin album business into summersaults retooling albums you know. Where to put these in the old ones?
Love it. Has a nice circulated look I like. XF40-XF45 is such a nice sweet spot for circulated grades.