Please list our mistakes ... to help us learn.

Hello,

We recently purchased these 2 'dollar' coins, but have found on receipt some things which feel wrong. We need a second opinion, and think you'll have one.

We guess some things we should have spotted from the photos before we bid.

The description was minimal - maybe we should have thought that suspicious.

Anyway, what we can say is the weight is 22.64g Seated Liberty, and 22.45g Peace dollar, though wiki says they should be 26.73g

The dimensions are both 38mm which is OK, but the sound when tapped is dull, they do not ring.

The wear across the Peace dollar is inconsistent across the coin, some letters almost gone whilst adjacent edge is high.

The Seated Liberty has no Liberty sash across her shield, and there are extraneous dots around the stars – really should have noticed that – rushing and naïve trust!

We believe the expression is 'our bad'.

But, what else did we miss?



Thanks in advance for the lists.

Gill & Alan
PS Going to create thread now ... if photos don't appear, we'll try again ...

 

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Fake coins. Is it too late to return them?

 

They do not look right. From the pictures they do look fake

 

Undoubtedly fake. The extreme soft details with no signs of wear and the pits from casting are major clues as is the wrong weight. Try and see if a magnet sticks to them too

 

We are negotiating with the seller, but he's not giving in yet. Buyer beware sort of response.

 

No, surprisingly a magnet doesn't stick to them ...

 

I'd like to think the seller had concerns, but didn't want to ruin a sale, and maybe he thought them questionable but most likey real? However he listed them as US Dollars, so I think that condemns the sale. To me, your opinions as well as a swift but clear "FAKE" from coinquest clear my mind as that's 2 & more assessors/experts' opinions saying the same thing - they are not US Dollars.

 

Do you realize had the 1861 coin been real, it would have been worth thousands?

What was the seller asking for it?

 

He'd started the auction at £4, and we won it at £5.50, but there are others (quite worn) listed from £9 ... so it looked a lucky buy!

 

Sorry, looking too quick ... those from £9 are halves , or quarters - still looking for 1 dollars.

 

None on eBay, including international sellers !!!
Unfortunately our criteria for bidding was it looked nice.

 

So it sounds like you didn't even pay what the melt value would be for a genuine coin. Is that right? There's a good lesson for you (us)!

 

Were THESE bought through eBay? If so, its an ESPECIALLY cautionary tale about how using eBay STILL involves risk, to one's time and sanity, if nothing else.

 

Bad coins. Was the seller from China? Do they have lots of these to sell? Tell ebay you want to return them - they are not as described. They are counterfeit. You'll get your money back.

 

Since you were wondering about what clues you missed, the first thing that jumped out at me on the Seated were the denticles. They are very poorly done, especially on the obverse in the 3:30 position.

 

Buying counterfeit and altered coins is a learning experience. I always tell young collectors to read the book before buying the coin. Neither of your coins match any of the known die characteristics for that year. VAMworld is a great site to learn die characteristics about Morgan and Peace silver dollars. Even the RED Book gives weights which is important to begin determining authenticity. Return them if you can since they are not US dollars but counterfeits from who knows where.

 

Very obvious modern Chinese counterfeits of which there are hundreds of thousands available online for a few dollars each.

 

We didn't consider Melt value, we just thought they were interesting and we made what we thought were reasonable bids. WE did no research - we are in the wrong there. Naive certainly, stupid likely, learnt a lesson - YES!
eBay is a huge market for those who don't get out much, and can rely on delivery to your door, and pick up to, for a nominal price. But there are by mathematics lots of bad guys amongst the good, lots of foolish people amongst the shrewd, and it can be fun. Luckily I don't get too embarassed when I make silly mistakes, Gill however ...
We're going to go for 'not as described', and this is a UK resident, but with an (careful) eastern european bartering hard-nosed approach.
The denticles? Yes, I see them now! Thank you, I'd assumed there was just wear there.
We use wikipedia to research now, I'm getting on a bit, and need to look at things quickly and frequently, else I forget. And, we still approach sellers as pukka, until we learn better.
PS eBay's Global Shipping system now allows one to ship an item at local rate, to a courier, that takes it internationally for no extra cost, may take a bit longer though. So hopefully sellers won't try to make too much out of the P&P charges anymore.
Thank you all for your responses ... I'm humbled, but there will be another day!

 

If you buy counterfeits on EBay you can get a refund.
And you don't have to return the pieces.