At a coin show yesterday I bought this counterfeit 1876-S Trade Dollar. (See my other threads for the other counterfeit coins I bought.) While this coin is much, much better than most cheap Chinese counterfeit Trade Dollars it should not fool anyone who knows what to look for. There are several clues that point to this coin being a counterfeit. The weight is not one of them. While not within Mint tolerance this coin, at 26.60 g, is not far off the 26.73 g weight of a genuine coin. This appears to be a cast counterfeit. (I need to study the coin more before I make a final decision on its mode of manufacture.) Most cast coins have many small bubbles and raised lumps that are not found on a genuine coin. This coin appears to have been toned with a brown substance (to hide some defects and to "age" the coin) and then heavily polished to remove most of the bubble holes and raised lumps. This should raise the suspicion of any collector.(Raised lumps remain in the protected areas as well as one on the obverse just above the water in front of Liberty's legs. And who could miss the HUGE raised lump in the reverse field far to the right of the olive branch?) Note the general lack of detail (not where detail was polished away) and the mushiness of some of the details. Many of the letters are weak or broken. Denticles are weak, especially on the reverse at 11:00 and 1:00 to 2:00. The overall detail of the coin is poor. In case you missed it, this coin is a COUNTERFEIT!
The '8' and '6' in the date appear to be misshaped. Also not the small raised lump on the lower-left side of the '6'; this raised lump was not removed during the polishing of the coin because it was protected by the numeral. A bunch of leaves are missing the stem that should connect them to the olive branch. Also not the small raised lump in the field between Liberty's upraised arm and right breast. This raised lump was in a protected area and was not polished away. Note the general lack of detail in Liberty's gown and the ribbon.
On the reverse notice the weak letters, especially the 'A' and 'E' in TRADE. Note the tool marks clearly visible at STATES. You can't miss that HUGE raised lump in the reverse field far to the right of the olive branch.
The fake trade dollars and peace dollar you posted are classic China fakes (and older ones). Easy to spot as fakes and with a simple ding test or scale prove. They (the counterfeiters) have and continue to evolve though. This story has been out for a while and posted somewhere here I'm sure but if you haven't seen it have a look. Also they are using silver now. http://coins.about.com/b/2008/04/02/inside-a-chinese-coin-counterfeiting-ring.htm
Great post. I like seeing the fake Trades. There are so many of them out there its not even funny anymore when you see one. I don't know the percentage but I bet its well over 50% fake.
