Hello all, My late grandfather used to collect coins. I have no idea where from and no idea how his collection came about but I have stumbled across a couple of trade dollars and can't tell whether these are real. Upon looking at pictures of other fakes it appears they seem real. I haven't had a chance to check their weight as yet but I understand this could be the key attribute to a genuine coin. I have an 1874-cc and an 1878-S. Could anyone tell me what the price would be for such if they are indeed real and also if there's anyone that could verify authenticity for me? If anyone is seriously interested in helping me then I can try and get a photo of them on here. Any tips will help and I will answer questions to confirm the true or false identity of these coins. Thanks for your help. Sam
Hi, quite a few folks here would be glad to try to authenticate them. If you can weigh them (in grams) on an accurate scale, that would help. It also doesn't hurt to see if they stick to a magnet before you go to the trouble of making photos.
Just tried the magnet approach and can confirm that they didn't stick to it. I will have photos on here by this evening. I will need to find someone with accurate scales though. Thanks again gentlemen, assuming you are all gentlemen, otherwise thank you gentlepeople.
There are two quick giveaways - denticles and reeds. For some reason, counterfeiters just can't seem to get 'em right. Denticles are around the border of both obverse and reverse. Reeds are around the edge. Both should look solid, even, "professional". The really hard-core types count the darn things !
Without good, clear pictures of both sides, the only thing that can be said with certainty is that there are more fakes than real ones floating around, and many of the fakes are non-magnetic.
Hontonai, just want to interject here that I love your siggie line. Ethical conduct is being honest when no one is watching.
I forgot to say, "Welcome to Coin Talk," and "You want fries with that?" (kidding!) Here is a thread I started about spotting fake Trade Dollars, hope it helps: http://www.cointalk.com/t63695/
Look for any tooling marks , also the denticles and rim should be about the same thickness , and if there are a lot of raised bumps in the fields it could mean it was cast , really need to see the pics though . rzage
I'm not an expert on these coins, butI have spotted and reported fake trade dollars on ebay. I'm sure the listing was pulled, and the seller just relisted it in a few weeks. But I did what I could.
I asked a couple of the chinese people why they would sell fake coins in our country ? I got some interesting answers ,HI,why you think this coin is fake?I think they are really,So I collect.Please tell me the wrong,Thanks..Thats one . He is the one I asked for a refund . another told me he did it so he could buy collector stamps . They wonder why they get treated poorly. PS a real trade dollar is going to be more than $49.95 and should weigh exactly 27.2 grams. The scales they had back then were very accurate,Weasle94
See post #8 for a link to info on identifying counterfeit trade dollars. As far as value if they are real we would really need to see photo's to determine the value. The condition could make the value range from less than $100 to several over $1000.
For TD collectors, how do you feel about chopmarked coins being graded MSxx? Isnt that a contradiction? I know all circulation strikes of any coin got beat up a bit in bags and handling before ever passing to the publics pockets but could still be considered MS if not debagged. Later if sent by the Fed to the bank and on to the public if that coin went to a cabinet instead of a pocket its going to be MSxx. It seems to me a chopmarked coin would have to have been put into actual circulation or the Chinese counting houses/merchants would never have the opportunity to inspect and mark a Trade Dollar. It just seems so unlikely a chopped coin would survive its first exposure as a trade unit that it could be later found in 'MS' condition. Didnt all Trade Dollars actually see heavy use as opposed to a Morgan or Peace, each of which, in general had little appeal or need to the US public and millions of new coins were melted or sat for a hundred years in storage. Ive always believed the Trade Dollar was heavily used in international trading and especially in the far east where they didnt like the regular dollars due to their light weight.
