Featured Counterfeit large eagle draped bust dollars

Another level of counterfeit early dollars has been hitting the internet and TPG’s over the past several years.

One of the 1st we saw was an 1802 example from an internet venue back in early 2018. While we were discussing it in a Face Book Group I administer Coin Week also was also reporting it with an NGC article with the same images; apparently it was submitted for certification and kicked back and then attempted to sell raw. Upon further review NGC posted their article on 9/16/2014, so these have been “out there” for a while!

The Coin Week article: https://coinweek.com/counterfeits/counterfeit-coin-detection-1802-draped-bust-silver-dollar/

Images of the subject 1802:


This “coin” does not match any genuine 1802 variety and has one significant obvious feature we nicknamed the “flattened 1”. The internet listing was removed as a counterfeit.

Recently an apparent version with the “1801” date has been seen for sale on the internet. Surprisingly the date is similar but different in the thickness of the numerals but it also has a flattened first 1, and the reverse appears to match with several matching marks. Interestingly the 1802 reverse shows some doubling indicative of die bounce while the 1801 shows apparent “die breaks”.

Images of the 1801 compared to the 1802 (white indicates common, red non-common marks):




And like the 1802, this 1801 doesn’t appear to match any genuine variety and the internet listing was also removed as counterfeit.

And later last night we saw a similar looking example for sale in the same venue with the date “1799”! This one appears to match another example from last month:




This example appears to better match a genuine B-10 1799 draped bust dollar, but there are common “markers” between the two suspect example’s reverses and to the 1801 and 1802 counterfeits!




Always looking for the initial “source” coin/ variety and maybe the group here can help with that!

Best,

Jack

 

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It appears these counterfeits are getting better and better. Makes me wonder how many actually passed TPGS as authentic, and how many poor souls purchased them raw.
Excellent post.

 

Ditto on the excellent post. Educational! And I hate to even admit it, but I have a fascination with counterfeits even though they hurt the hobby.

 

Makes one want to only buy TPG slabs, but it seems even some counterfeits might have gotten through there also. I need to carry an expert on counterfeit coins in my back pocket when going to a coin show now.

 

A lot of good info on Coin Week Mountain Man; search "counterfeit" for posted articles on that site.
https://coinweek.com/?s=counterfeit

 

Great info as usual, @Jack D. Young. I am, or soon will be, in the market for a large eagle bust dollar for my US type set (1800-present). This just underscores the importance of buying from a reputable source.

Know the dealer or know the coin. There are dealers I know that I'm fully comfortable buying raw coins from. If I got stuck with one of these, I'm convinced all I would have to do is show them it's counterfeit and I'd get an immediate refund. Random eBay sellers not so much... I generally buy certified on eBay.

 

Thanks for your tireless work!

 

I would hope that these would'nt pass muster at NGC or PCGS. Those fakes are abysmal. Please use caution when buying these. Enclosed are pics of my 1802/1 purchased in early 2014. Pics courtesy of Heritage. If you look, not even closely.....there is a big difference between the real Mccoy and the counterfeits.

 

I really need to take better pics of these....the previous ones were small here is a bigger one of my 1800 10 arrows. Hopefully you can see detail better. Strong rims....not perfect denticles...as these were struck without a collar. Details, lettering, color....not off and mushy like many counterfeits. Studying the details, color, and varieties of these (like with any series) is important.

 

I haven't seen any of these in genuine TPG holders, but some of the more deceptive struck fakes duplicating genuine source coins have been certified.

 

Thanks Jack, I will. Even in retirement, it seems like the days aren't long enough to allow me to read and view all I'd like to. LOL

 

And that's something I've bitched about here for years.....the TPG's go through these coins so damn quick, I don't care how much of an expert you are, you can't grade and look for counterfeit status in 20-45 seconds.

 

Just an update- a new internet listing has an 1800 $ with matching reverse marks to the 1801!

 

I believe @ToughCOINS created a thread about this

 

Just saw it- thanks micbraun!

 

The listing was just removed along with a couple of others. The second lot of silver "coins" included another example of the "flattened 1" 1801's:

 

Just got my rough 1802/1 back from ANACS with a laundry list of problems but at least it’s genuine.

 

Double post

 

Here's my genuine 1799 (old cleaning) for use as a comparison with the fakes in the first post.

 

Really concerning. Here's mine. Thank you CAC and NGC for confirming its legitimacy!