1888 $3 look ok to you?

Hi Guys and Gals,

Another purchase from me, you all have saved my bacon in the past so just drawing on your expertise once again, if you don't mind

Purchased this and as always these days with coins i am unfamiliar with just want to check it is ok and there is nothing fishy about it.

Thanks again for your help!
Richard

 

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The whole coin looks soft and there is a random bump next to the right end of the ribbon. I'm unsure, but I would not have bought it.

 

From coinfacts.

 

I think it's real but this is not my field.

 

The problem is that ALL 3 dollar gold pieces are inherently suspicious. The counterfeit rate is THAT frightening.

 

Looks fine to me but I'm no expert.

 

I think it's counterfeit, it looks soft. Likely is real gold though.

 

That's what I was thinking, but I'm not qualified to say that. I was shown a $3 counterfeit at the luncheon in Pittsburgh the year the ANA had a fall show there (2011?) and I was amazed. It looked so real! But the issue WAS softness of the design.

Oh, that one was real gold too, just not a real U.S. strike.

 

Indeed, they are rampantly counterfeited. It's a sad state of affairs.

 

Thank you all for your replies, the general consensus is that this is a fake?
Would additional pictures help at all with seeing through a fake?

 

Do NOT interpret anything I wrote as saying it IS fake. That’s not what I am saying. I AM saying this series ALWAYS needs a jaundiced eye.

 

Before you buy any more gold coins, get Bill Fivaz's book on detecting counterfeit gold coins. You will learn a lot.

 

raw = punt

 

Yes, if you don't know and can't tell, just buy certified pieces. Then you are 95% sure it's real.

 

Send it for certification. its worth it isn't it???

 

Yeah submit that coin to PCGS / NGC. If it's fake then get that refund in. If it's real, then I don't know if gold is graded differently but it looks like surface hairlines running parallel with each other.

 

Why in the blazes would you have bought a rare coin that you aren't sure about? This coin screams fake to me, and $3 gold is well known to be rife with fakes.

If you don't know what you are buying (and by that I mean, you can't grade and authenticate a coin for yourself with a high degree of confidence) DON'T BUY THE COIN RAW!!!!!!!

I don't mean to sound mean.... but, just, don't. And this applies to anyone else reading this thread as well... not just you.

 

HERE HERE!

 

Nope.

Not worth it. It's fake. Return it.

 

$3 gold is pretty much the only coin besides some rare classic commems that I'd never take a swing at raw. There's probably more fakes out there, than real coins left. That being said 1888 is one of the most common dates and nothing immediately jumps out on your coin, but I'd still send it in for verification perhaps during an ANACS special.