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<p>[QUOTE="Insider, post: 4717242, member: 24314"]I guess I should add this bit of history and one of the reasons the state of authentication is where it is today. </p><p><br /></p><p>Part One</p><p><br /></p><p>There have always been counterfeits. Before many of us were born, folks relied on dealers and advanced collectors to detect them. Most authentication was done by measurement. Checking the size, weight, style, and composition. You could probably count on one hand the number of people AROUND THE WORLD who ever looked at a large number of coins under high magnification. Fortunately, at that time and before a majority of counterfeits were not very good. However, all through time, there have been some famous exceptions - counterfeiters who were so good that their work passed as genuine until it was discovered. They made the "state-of-the-art" fakes of their time.</p><p><br /></p><p>Before the early 1970's counterfeit detection was hit or miss for the average collector. It seems that each area of the country had a go-to dealer to consult for opinions of authenticity and by this time there were quite a few numismatists around the country who specialized in a certain series of coins. Numismatists working in museums and the large European banks were often far ahead of the average dealer because they had access to genuine coins. </p><p><br /></p><p>The first requisite of counterfeit detection is to know what a genuine coin of the same type should look like. Unfortunately by the early 1970's, the fakes were improving so much that even the "not-so-state-of-the-art" counterfeits looked pretty good and fooled many prominent dealers and the authenticators who were considered to be the "experts" of their time. Aside from not detecting very deceptive counterfeit or altered coins, in the worse case, some of these experts were consistently condemning genuine coins as counterfeit! </p><p><br /></p><p>Counterfeiting had become a very serious problem for what was considered to be mostly a "hobby" at the time. The ANA and many important dealers raised money to establish an authentication service where people could send coins for an opinion as to their authenticity. The director of this new service was Charles Hoskins. In addition to being an advanced numismatist, he had been the Public Relations Officer at the Mint in Philadelphia. The initial library at the new service consisted of Hoskin's reference books! Having a basic knowledge of coins and techniques used by authenticators at the time, Hoskins was given several weeks of instruction at the Mint Laboratory and introduced to fluorescent light and a stereomicroscope. The Mint Lab in DC was charged to inspect coins, dies, and answer any questions dealing with coinage or manufacture that could not be handled at a specific mint facility in other cities. </p><p><br /></p><p>I was lucky to work at the new authentication service after it had been opened for several months because its two-person staff had became swamped with work. Here is the dirty little secret. There was no little black box we could place a coin into to be examined automatically so its authenticity could be determined with 100% accuracy. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie3" alt=":(" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> </p><p><br /></p><p>Coin authentication is a NEVER ENDING detailed learning process. You don't ever become an expert but with perseverance, virtually ANYBODY can acquire the skills, experience, and techniques to be better than 98% of the numismatists in the world, especially if they specialize in one series. Access to a stereomicroscope and unlimited genuine coins is a basic requirement. Today's student has it easy with the Internet, hands-on training, and dozens of top-quality reference books that were not yet written forty years ago.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Insider, post: 4717242, member: 24314"]I guess I should add this bit of history and one of the reasons the state of authentication is where it is today. Part One There have always been counterfeits. Before many of us were born, folks relied on dealers and advanced collectors to detect them. Most authentication was done by measurement. Checking the size, weight, style, and composition. You could probably count on one hand the number of people AROUND THE WORLD who ever looked at a large number of coins under high magnification. Fortunately, at that time and before a majority of counterfeits were not very good. However, all through time, there have been some famous exceptions - counterfeiters who were so good that their work passed as genuine until it was discovered. They made the "state-of-the-art" fakes of their time. Before the early 1970's counterfeit detection was hit or miss for the average collector. It seems that each area of the country had a go-to dealer to consult for opinions of authenticity and by this time there were quite a few numismatists around the country who specialized in a certain series of coins. Numismatists working in museums and the large European banks were often far ahead of the average dealer because they had access to genuine coins. The first requisite of counterfeit detection is to know what a genuine coin of the same type should look like. Unfortunately by the early 1970's, the fakes were improving so much that even the "not-so-state-of-the-art" counterfeits looked pretty good and fooled many prominent dealers and the authenticators who were considered to be the "experts" of their time. Aside from not detecting very deceptive counterfeit or altered coins, in the worse case, some of these experts were consistently condemning genuine coins as counterfeit! Counterfeiting had become a very serious problem for what was considered to be mostly a "hobby" at the time. The ANA and many important dealers raised money to establish an authentication service where people could send coins for an opinion as to their authenticity. The director of this new service was Charles Hoskins. In addition to being an advanced numismatist, he had been the Public Relations Officer at the Mint in Philadelphia. The initial library at the new service consisted of Hoskin's reference books! Having a basic knowledge of coins and techniques used by authenticators at the time, Hoskins was given several weeks of instruction at the Mint Laboratory and introduced to fluorescent light and a stereomicroscope. The Mint Lab in DC was charged to inspect coins, dies, and answer any questions dealing with coinage or manufacture that could not be handled at a specific mint facility in other cities. I was lucky to work at the new authentication service after it had been opened for several months because its two-person staff had became swamped with work. Here is the dirty little secret. There was no little black box we could place a coin into to be examined automatically so its authenticity could be determined with 100% accuracy. :( Coin authentication is a NEVER ENDING detailed learning process. You don't ever become an expert but with perseverance, virtually ANYBODY can acquire the skills, experience, and techniques to be better than 98% of the numismatists in the world, especially if they specialize in one series. Access to a stereomicroscope and unlimited genuine coins is a basic requirement. Today's student has it easy with the Internet, hands-on training, and dozens of top-quality reference books that were not yet written forty years ago.[/QUOTE]
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