Hello all. I am new to this forum, and new to coins, period. Let me thank anyone who can help in advance, for your time, advice, and expertise. A family friend bought some coins with very old dates on them. He asked me to help him to check if I could identify whether these coins were genuine. I know nothing of old coins, how to tell if they're genuine or not, etc. My gut feeling at first is that they are fake. It's best to be skeptical offhand in my point of view, but there's other reasons why. All of the coins have the same "color". If there were no years on them, I'd say they were all made on the same "batch" of silver (if that's what they used). Also, there is fading on several parts of these coins. I was reading through these forums, and learned that sometimes if a counterfeit is made, any scratches or dents on the original it was made from would be passed on to the counterfeit coins, but with more rounded edges. These coins don't have many scratches or "pits", so I couldn't rely on that too much. So the best I could do for now is take pictures, as close as my cheap camera could, and hope you guys can help me. Once again, thank you for your time, I really do appreciate any help you can offer. Here's the pics: PIC 1 PIC 2 PIC 3 PIC 4 PIC 5 PIC 6 Once again, thank you for your time.
Those are all fakes, most of them probably Chinese. Some of them (like the Washington one) aren't even real coins, just fantasy pieces. Unfortunately for your friend, he was duped quite badly.
Thanks for the very prompt reply! :thumb: So please let me confirm, by fantasy piece, you mean the US never officially printed this coin? How can you tell the others are chinese? Yes, he was duped.
No problem. Most of these coins have actually been featured in the news as known fakes. Not only are they crude, but they don't appear to be silver at all (old silver has a very distinctive appearance). They are probably made of some base metal, perhaps nickel. By fantasy, yes, we mean the U.S. never minted such a coin. The design is completely made up. No president ever appeared on circulating coinage until 1909, even. The coin below that one and to the left is based off an Indian Head cent and a U.S. gold dollar, and is also essentially a made up design. Some of the coins, like the Trade Dollar fake (the top right coin in the first pic) has a completely wrong date, as no coins of that type were minted until 1873. Do you know what he spent on these? They're probably worth about a buck a piece just for the novelty factor.
He didn't want to tell me exactly what he paid, but by knowing him and certain things he mentioned, I would easily assume at least a few hundred. I really appreciate your help, thank you very much for your time.
Why did he buy them if he didn't know what he was buying? Do you know where he bought them or under what circumstances? This sounds like one of those drive-by purchases. The kind where you are a at a red light and the guy in the car next to you rolls down his window and asks you if you want a great deal on some speakers. I have these coins ..but I lost my job and I need the money to pay my rent and feed my family ...my son is 2 ..they are worth about $800 but I'll sell them to you for $250. I could really use some help.
Yup, those are Chinese counterfeits, and really bad ones at that. They are interesting in a humorous way to numismatists, and souvenirs or oddities for others, but have no real value. They are very likely magnetic, in fact. Either way, it's a lesson learned. While several hundred dollars is certainly not a good investment by any means, he can atleast be thankful he didn't spend several thousand. After all, we've all made mistakes.
He didn't know what he was buying, that's exactly it. According to him he works with the person who sold it to him, and by his reaction after I read your posts to him (on phone), he spent good money on these toys. Either way, I have learned much today, and he has learned to do some research on things he knows nothing about before buying. According to my friend, the person did indeed give him the "I need the money for rent" story... Again, this has been a learning experience, easier for me to handle, but a tough one for my friend. I just hope he clears it up at work, going to be pretty weird for him going to work and seeing that person now. Thank you very much, all of you, for your quick replies and valuable information! :thumb:
Definitely fakes. I could get all the same coins in China town NYC for less than $3.00 on a bad day, $1 if I haggle.
