I just met up with an elderly disabled fella cause he said he had some Morgans for sale on a buy, sell, trade facebook site. I get there and start going through the coins and at first glance everything seemed fine until I started seeing super rare key dates like a 1885 CC and 1893 0 and S then bells and whistles started going off in my head, the old saying too good to be true is the truth. I started weighing them and they were all off on weight then I used the neodymium magnet and it slid off fast. At first I thought that maybe this guy had been fooled and he thought he was selling honest to goodness Morgans but then when I said something about the possibility of them being fake he started getting defensive saying he knew a great deal about coins and he wouldn't know why someone would want to fake Morgans...Whether he really knew or not isn't what makes me the most angry it's the fact that there are so many fake ones out there and that people without knowledge keep buying them and spreading them around.
I buy off Craigslist and yes, there are a lot counterfeits out there and it seems every time you point it out that somethings fake, they get mad.
First, the 1885-CC is not super-rare. Granted, there were only 228,000 struck, but the vast majority of them never left the Mint bags until the Treasury releases of the 1970's. You also have to take into consideration that the "elderly disabled fella" may be having a hard time coping with his deteriorating physical condition, and your comments were just one more "slap in the face" that he is forced to accept. No offense, Eric, but until you've walked a mile in his shoes, you can't say why he reacted as he did. Chris
While this is true I told him as nicely as possible and even apologized for getting him out and not buying any from him then shook his hand and said have a good day.
I just hope that others that answer his ad take some knowledge and a way to tell if they are fake so they dont get suckered into buying them.
Another Reason why when it comes to better dates I usually only buy coins that have been slabbed by PCGS or NGC.
He knew what he was doing. You have every right to be mad and question his integrity. Why do you think you he got mad and defensive when you called him out?
Present the evidence. Show him the scale with a real Morgan, and show him the weight on the scale with the phonies. He can't say anything then. He may have been taken advantage of and he's trying to sell phonies that he was stuck with and knows exactly that they are fakes because he prob took them to his LCS.
I would have just said , No, not my type and left. If he asked why? then I would have said the weight and silver test was off and left. Why get into a discussion no one can win.
To bad we can not double like a comment.....Oh and I second that, I am impressed to. That was awesome, lol
I can not sat I fully agree. Maybe the gentlemen learned something? We do not know for certian if he was being mischievous or not. I would like to think that he wasn't, and am glad the OP was smart enough to due his due diligence and might have passed on some free knowledge.
