how do you spot fake Trade Dollars, anyway?

Hello! Brand new to this forum. Thanks for this thread, it's really really enlightening. I recently picked up this Trade Dollar and wanted to get your thoughts on it? Besides the weight (26.94, 1% lighter than official presumably due to wear), everything else seems to check the boxes--doesn't stick to magnet, dimensions correct, pings properly, matches the die details outlined at the top of this thread.
https://imgur.com/a/JSYWmKQ

 

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It looks good to me, grade wise about mid VF. Rims are nice and no major hits in the fields. Dark splotch next to the date may just be toning, but could be corrosion if it seems to be eating into the surface. Glad you found the thread helpful, and welcome to the forum! We can always use more trade dollar collectors.

 

found another fake 1873-CC on eBay. I sent the seller a polite message explaining why I knew it was fake. He quickly removed the listing, but told me that he tested it electronically, and that it was silver. I guess the forger figured the profit margin was high enough to justify using the correct metal. You can easily see the poor dentils, stars, and mushy details overall.

 

Thanks for posting yeah. A fake that would fool a lot of people but not someone that knows the series. At least it’s silver

 

I forgot to ask the seller if he had checked the weight too.

 

I've been thinking for a couple of years that it's well worth it for a counterfeiter to use the correct alloy, even gold. The cost of the silver or gold compared to the value of a valuable coin being faked is a pittance. I don't trust a questionable coin just because it's the proper alloy.

 

I recall seeing the ones advertised as "silver" on the Chinese website costing $80 or so.

 

I have a couple of high quality fakes with the correct weight, not magnetic, will need to get them tested somewhere.

 

But the drive to maximize profit still has some making them from 50% old British & Hong Kong silver junk. Weight & look/feel is close. Getting harder to keep ahead of counterfeiting

 

the above coin sold on ebay recently. surfaces are extremely porous, dentils are bad no matter what angle you look at them. The edge reeding, what you can see, does not look too good. The design details though are surprisingly sharp so I think this one is masquerading as sea water damage, corrosion from being buried or fire damage.

 

With my new USB microscope, I took some photos of dentils on 2 fake trade dollars that I own. notice the hollow pits, probably due to bubbles in the medium used to make the transfer dies.
compare

 

compare to the dentils on a genuine trade dollar:

 

@ksparrow , I wonder your opinion of this one?

A friend has asked if genuine and sent these images; stated 27.2 in weight:

 

Jack I think that’s got a chance of being ok. The overall design details look good. I won’t definitely call from a pic. But denticles look good. Better than most fakes. It’s slightly off center which throws you off a little. The design weakness at top of portrait corresponds with the weakness on reverse. So I’m thinking poor strike some wear to the dies And it’s had a really hard life. I’m about 80% towards real the more I look. How does the edge reeding look?

 

Looks good there from what I can tell from the pics. Thanks

 

Hello Jack, I just got in. This appears to be an 1876-P type 2/2 which is a very scarce coin, maybe 20 to 25 known. I don't know the chopmarked population. I happen to own one of these. Some things that concern me: obv: mushy on the head, branch hand and branch, stars on the lower right.
rev: look at the F in OF; the "nose" droops way down, much farther than it should.
The T in UNITED does not look right, the E in TRADE does not look right. And, unless the photos are cropped, the rims seem to almost disappear in a couple of places which is unusual. The surfaces are so distressed that a multitude of sins could be concealed.
I can't see the edge reeding in the photos clearly as they don't enlarge.
I agree with MaineBill that the dentils look ok given the image sizes.
I am thinking probability of genuine 25%, fake 75%. I'll post images of my 76-P II/II.

 

Thanks @ksparrow !

 

Excellent analysis, if this coin is fake could it be a contemporary fake or modern. I don't know the series that well and it would have fooled me.