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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;TypeCoin971793, post: 4683628, member: 78244&quot;]This is the first this I saw, and it gave me a bad gut feeling. Now, I have seen coins that were so harshly cleaned with a metal brush/wool that the cuts on the surface gave it a grainy appearance. That is also something I sensed in my gut reaction. Without seeing it in hand, I will call the graininess inconclusive.</p><p><br /></p><p>However, I would say that, authentic or not, it isn’t a coin you want.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>What about them? On high-grade specimens, they are neat and tidy rectangles, but as the coin wears down the ends of the rectangles spread out into a mushroom shape. That’s consistent with what I see on the OP’s coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1152694[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1152693[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>The fuzziness appears to be in the fields while the devices look polished smooth. That’s the opposite of what I would expect to see on modern Chinese counterfeits, though the older cast counterfeits had a markedly different appearance. I haven’t handled enough cast counterfeits recently to generalize in this regard.</p><p><br /></p><p>Do you have a weight or know the metallic composition [USER=28550]@GeorgeM[/USER] ? That will help a lot. If the mass is off by more than a Half gram, it is a definite counterfeit. If the metal isn’t 90% silver, it is a definite counterfeit.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>I will touch on this more below. Are you referring to random areas of lacking details?</p><p><br /></p><p>The eagle’s feathers look just as crisp as on genuine coins.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>This is the first thing I look for in chopmarked trade dollars. The flattened area usually has a rough texture, and the design elements are significantly weakened. I see this for the majority of chopmarks on this coin.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>I see disturbed metal for most of the chopmarks. Even on the counterfeits, the chopmarks are hand-punched. I have yet to see a fake in which the chopmarks were a feature on the die.</p><p><br /></p><p>So what is my conclusion overall? I don’t have a firm one. I don’t like it, but I can’t 100% condemn it. I would recommend that in the future you should avoid coins like this in the future. Even if declared genuine, you will always look at it and think “could it be fake?”</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>I thank you for the really high praise, but I don’t know if I quite count as a recognized expert.</p><p><br /></p><p>As for the letter of un-authenticity, sorry. :/ I can’t in good faith write one without being 100% sure. Answering the questions above will help me make a conclusion.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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