1908 $2.50 Indian-- Real or Fake?

No, a grading service cannot afford to slab a fake coin. A grading service can afford to refuse to slab a genuine coin. It happens all the time.

 

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but we are not just talking about one grading service in particular.... you said you send it to 3 different grading companies and each said it was counterfiet...

You said this was your first counterfiet out of 40 or so coins??

Honestly that's pretty good. I would say that at least one out of 10 gold coins I see is counterfiet... I would consider myself lucky.

 

They also label them cleaned, whizzed, corroded, bent, holed, among other things.

If the coin was genuine I'm sure they could find something else to call it then counterfiet...

as far as im concerned when a respected TPG says its fake... it's fake.

 

Wasn't there a time in the USA when it was illegal to hoard gold bullion except in the form of rare coins etc. Japan was the primary source of many die struck gold coins which are really really good looking. In fact they are better looking than many US mint products. The counterfeits seldom have copper spots, they seldom have die cracks, and they seldom show much die wear. Basically, if it looks really nice, then it might not be a US mint product. There are die markers you can look for on several know die struck counterfeits. I recommend "US Gold Counterfeit Detection Guide by Bill Fivas" for something like $15 or $20.

Very best regards,
collect89

 

Is this thread ongoing because you refuse to believe what the grading companies said about your coin being fake? Well then by all means send it to them again and again and have them return the coin back to you again and again as a fake. Waste all the money you want but remember where you got the advice not to waste your money and time. That's all I have to add.

 

Ditto. I have this book. If you blow up the pictures so we can see better details, we may be able to notice something. There's no way of verifying anything on a counterfeit this good, with a picture this small.

It should be noted that $2.5 and $5 Indians have what's been called an 'above average' number of counterfeits in existence. Why? I don't know, but it is well known. Knowing this, I wouldn't even try to buy an ungraded one, even at a huge discount. Much less a loose one overseas.

There are many indicators to look for. If you get that book it would help you a lot.
You should get a basic gold test kit and verify that it is gold. It's just a stone and a set of chemicals. You can swipe the edge of the coin lightly over the stone. This leaves behind some gold dust. Then you put a drop from varying K levels until the line turns brown and dissolves. It looks gold but who knows? If the 10k solution dissolves it and it disappears, than it's not even gold. If it's been labeled a fake by 3 TPGs, I wouldn't be afraid to do some experimentation with it.

How does the reeded edge look under magnification compared to your other examples? Check for uneven portions or fat rounded reeded edge. Look for fine raised spikes around the edges in the fields or tool marks on the back of the indian's neck. Small depressions with luster. These are some common issues on fakes. But not the rule.

 

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Thank you. I think this is about as far as we can go;
Unless the OP provides some close up photos

 

How about the vertical feathers that hang down out of the ring by the ear? Now that I'm looking at them in the book, something is seriously screwed up where that bright spot is. The patch of feathers(?) coming out of the ring, (the back portion that hangs straight down) should extend just below a line even with the chin. It would appear that on this coin, they are almost half the appropriate length and somebody's done some obvious tooling. Only a very small portion of the back of the neck should be visible.