Went to see my dealer yesterday. He had purchased a complete Morgan collection earlier in the week and showed me two silver dollars that stunned me. 1889-CC and 1893-S. Weight, diameter and devices were disturbingly accurate. No cartoonish look at all. Toning and years of grime were convincingly added. Only thing missing were die markers for those years/mints. Both dollars were phony as a three dollar bill. These lowlifes are getting too good.
I am a relatively young collector and probably rely more on PCGS/NGC grades than I should, but a (presumably) raw 93-S or 89-CC just sounds fishy. This does not excuse the crime - but a shame nonetheless.
He was rather nonchalant about it. He didn’t pay the price of the genuine article as he had inspected them when he did the deal. Just was showing me like you would show anything to your buddy.
Yes, they really are. Steve didn’t lose on the deal. He is a savvy enough businessman to have done his diligence up front. Broke the heart of the fellow that had spent a lifetime assembling the collection though.
As are counterfeit detection classes and guides. Don’t depend on the slabs as even those are faked to a convincing degree. One MUST know how to authenticate coins, especially those where diagnostics are well published, to weed out the fake coins in fake slabs
I should have taken some but didn’t. Being an old fashioned sort, I leave my phone in my truck when I visit somebody.
Thanks for spreading the word. Making us more aware about the surroundings and "good deals". I know I'll be a little more wary.
@Randy Abercrombie they are getting very good to the point they can get the coin nearly weight wise ! Also they are using real silver nowadays too for some!
I know folks are getting very scared here of buying the Trade dollars now unless they KNOW the people had the coins themselves in their collections early in the 1970's. Won't buy them unless they know the person here. (it's a durn shame.)
I read an article I believe it was in the Numismatist a couple years ago or maybe even in a thread here where a dealer at a show bought two sets of Morgans believing they were real and found out they were fake. He paid full price.
There were plenty of fake trade dollars around back in the early 70's as well. But they were a good deal cruder that the ones they make today. unlike today many of the ones back then actually were cast fakes.
1889-CC and 1893-S sound like expensive coins. Did the dealer tell the collector he thought they were fakes, or did the dealer think there was a chance they could be real?
Oh no. He has a two businesses. One is for the average collector like me. And he also caters to the investor coin guys. In other words he is quite meticulous with the high value coins. He told the fellow that was selling the collection and did not pay for those two coins.