Does any member have any idea how to distinguish the genuine from the counterfeit on these coins 'minted' in the early 1850's - besides sending it for grading?? Thanks. Bob
The PCGS Official guide to Coin Grading and Counterfeit Detection says: "Surprisingly little U.S. Territorial gold coinage has been forged." They say the most common counterfeit is the 1853 USAO twenty dollar coin.
First of all weigh it on an accurate scale - to 1 one hundreth of a gram. Then measure the diameter. Then find very high quality pictures of a genuine coin and closely compare the details of your coin. After doing all that - you'll have an idea - but only an idea if it is genuine or not. The only way to know for sure is to have an expert say so. Just for curiosity's sake - which coin is it ? As for what it says in the PCGS book - I'd like to know their definition of "surprisingly little". Fake Cal gold coins abound !! They outnumber the genuine coins by at least 10 to 1.
According to the experts in the field, Breen, Bowers, and Kagin Territorial gold is a heavily counterfeited area of numismatics. Most of the information gathered in the recovery of the SS Central America revealed that the numbers may be as high as 20 to 1. There are a few referrence books regarding the diagnostics of original gold, but without the aid of actually having examined a few pieces, the average collector would not be able to tell the difference.
Even the Smithsonian collection included questionable pieces, which is why Richard Doty, the curator for numismatics, removed them from the exhibit. (Now, of course, all the coins are gone and hopefully they will reappear in a new exhibit somewhere.) I agree that the first test is weight. Most of these fakes are not even made from gold; they are just curios in base metal.
Perhaps true in terms of recent attempts to defraud collectors; I don't know. But I do suspect there was quite a bit of contemporary counterfeiting going on, especially since some of these issues are somewhat crudely designed and struck even when genuine. That would make fakes easier to pass off, I would think.
Back in August or September; a counterfeit 1850 Baldwin $10.00 horseman type gold piece was used to purchase gas at a west central Indiana food plaza. Although dissapointed with the outcome; the cashier contends it was one of the most interesting $10.00 she ever spent. Curious as to whether this coin would hold any value at all, or just as a useful comparison to the real thing? WN
A lot of the early couterfeits actually sell for nice premiums depending on how they were minted. Some of the coins were made with precious metals although light in weight or fineness. There is a market for these coins. My only preferrence is that they are marked with the word "copy" so that they do not fool unsuspecting collectors.
Thank you ND. Tho I haven't seen the coin, the aforementioned cashier identified it from my Redbook...and I know that "copy" doesn't appear on it. All in in all, quite interesting. WN
Here is a link to some copies sold by an antique dealer. http://pages.tias.com/848/PictPage/1922419262.html#images
