Reply to Thread

Message:: [QUOTE="CheetahCats, post: 905995, member: 23874"]Here is an excerpt of text from Official Guide to Coin Grading and Counterfeit Detection, Travers, PCGS, (c)1997 revised, pg.288.  Hope this helps explain and provide answers to your questions:<blockquote>"Usually a cast copy can be easily identified by a seam that runs around the outside edge or circumference of the coin.  This seam appears at the point where two molds, obverse and reverse, are joined. As the metal is poured or forced through the opening in the edge and fills the voids of the mold, a 'coin' is produced. The most commonly seen cast copies of American coins are colonial and territorial pieces. A number of crudely made cast pieces were manufactured for the sole purpose of being sold as souvenirs..."  (It should be noted here that they were/are also produced to deceive.) </blockquote>Weight may be adjusted such that the cast counterfeit is produced slightly heavier with a similar alloy, and filed down to published weight.  Or, produced heavier with a core of granules, holed (tapped), and emptied of granules until approximate published weight is achieved, then plugged.[/QUOTE]