I am new to coins and grading but I like to look at raw ungraded coins and get them when I think I have a coin worthy of being slabbed. I also have a thing for pre 1933 gold coins and recently submitted 4 coins for grading by PCGS and look what I got back..... A frickkin counterfeit... can anyone see from the pics to see what I missed? It looked legit.
Experience is what is required. Go to shows and look at slabbed coins and get an "eye" for what's authentic. If you are going to deal with raw coins, that's a must. Only other thing is to deal with well established and trusted sellers.
I can see rim spikes, even in your pictures. The rims look odd too. This coin is clearly a counterfeit.
What are rim spikes? I compared the coin to PCGS' photograde app and it looked pretty good to me. Anyways, I am going back to the dealer tomorrow since I just got the results late today. Hopefully they give me my money back or give me a new coin. I spend quite a bit on coins so it would be bad to lose me as a customer. I thought dealers were supposed to double check for counterfeits.
If you’re new to coins and grading it’s a great idea to stick to already graded coins like mentioned above. Don’t just buy any graded coin blindly of course be picky with it there’s tons of pre-33 to choose from and the more you look at before you know it you will be good enough to pick out the raw winners. Hopefully you can return that gold dollar if not looks like a somewhat cheap lesson at least. Those tiny dollars are awesome coins (when real) I just got my first type 1 a few weeks ago and couldn’t put it down it’s one of the highlights of my collection. Grab a legit one next!
There’s some really convincing counterfeits out there... even the TPG’s themselves have inadvertently slabbed counterfeit coins on occasion.
I have heard that.. But they stand by every coin they slab so it shouldn't be a total loss. I have heard another story where people are able to counterfeit the PCGS or NGC slabs. After this coin and these things I am now hearing, I am afraid
Take heart, sir! Knowledge is power and this experience will no doubt effect your future collecting in a positive way.
I have circled ones I see on your coin. Here is an example of a fake 1853 dollar. I have circled two rim spikes so you can see what I am talking about. The presence of these spikes almost always condemns a gold coin as fake.
An EXTREMELY good resource is Bill Fivaz’s book on detecting counterfeit gold coins. Since that is your collecting interest, you will find that book very valuable. https://www.amazon.com/Counterfeit-Detection-Official-Whitman-Guidebook/dp/0794820077
I know absolutely nothing about gold but anytime I see a slight smirk or smile on lady liberty I question it.
Ahhhh I see the spikes now. I need to get better at spotting these. I never thought anyone would want to fake a common year dollar coin
They are counterfeiting 1956 Lincoln cents. https://www.aliexpress.com/store/pr...-Head-Cent-Copy-Coins/738170_32759515299.html Be careful of everything you buy!!!!!!! I like to study the pictures of genuine coins on PCGS's Coinfacts, and counterfeits on Etsy, Amazon and Aliexpress. (Never ever buy anything from these vendors that allow selling of counterfeit items. If they allow fake coins, they probably allow fake everything!)