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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Evan8, post: 2602863, member: 74343&quot;][USER=24314]@Insider[/USER] will appreciate this thread.</p><p><br /></p><p>It seems a bit slow on CT, most likely from the holidays of course and folks having to go back to work. With Christmas now over and fresh ebay gift cards and holiday money burning holes in collectors pockets, now shall be the perfect time to show off one of my newest acquisitions. Occasionally, we get the novice and even an expert asking for values and grades of their rare raw coins. Sometimes those coins arent coins at all, but rather your ever more common Chinese fake.</p><p><br /></p><p>Here I want to reiterate the dangers of buying rare coins raw. Now, I myself am guilty of buying such coins ungraded off ebay, as have many others. Personally I do a great deal of research before spending a large amount on a raw coin, and if in anyway I do not feel comfortable, I do not make the purchase.</p><p><br /></p><p>Over the last few years I have been studying contemporary counterfeits as well as fakes designed to decieve for numismatic purposes. I have become well accustomed to spotting fakes and counterfeits, so much so, that I can spot them from crappy ebay seller pictures. Which brings me to the subject of this thread.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]568400[/ATTACH]</p><p>When I saw this 1803 Draped Bust Dollar, it made me stop. I do not collect this series cause usually I cant afford them. But it was its cheap price and its convincing obverse that made me take a closer look at the seller pictures. The obverse looked like a typical worn draped bust that I have seen hundreds of pictures of before. But it was because of those hundreds of pictures that I have viewed, that I knew something was wrong with this. And with quick google search, it wasnt long before I became somewhat of an expert on the draped bust dollar series. On this obverse the first thing we must look at is the date. It&#039;s orientation is pretty close to that of an authentic example where the 8 is slightly higher than the 1 and 0, however the 1 does look a bit long. But it is the 3 that gives it away. It&#039;s too rounded at its serifs and not sharp like an authentic 3. Let&#039;s take a look at the reverse:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]568421[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Now here we have some more obvious signs. From the seller&#039;s pics you couldn&#039;t see what my eyes are immediatly drawn to when looking at the reverse. Starting from STATES and working your way down you start to see signs of casting on the surfaces.</p><p><br /></p><p>So imagine, seeing this coin in pictures a little worse than mine. All you see is the obverse and reverse. Could be pretty convincing to someone not so familiar with draped bust dollars. I also want to point out that I did find a website that discusses the more commonly seen Chinese draped bust dollars and one like this was not shown. One of the more common draped bust fakes are the ones with the AMERICAI reverses, where an extra line is present after AMERICA. Note this piece is not one of those.</p><p><br /></p><p>Im gonna show two more pictures I took of the obv and rev.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]568422[/ATTACH]</p><p>[ATTACH=full]568423[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Here we see what else troubles me with this fake. The toning. It isnt very often you see a this quality of a Chinese fake, right down to suttle hints of toning. This piece isnt only the correct 40mm diameter (5 grams too light), but appears to have some silver content as well.</p><p><br /></p><p>It wouldn&#039;t be until you purchased this piece and had it in hand until you saw the most obvious signs of deception. The edge. Some may not realize it but, draped bust halfs and dollars both had edge lettering that basically said the denomination of the coin. Here is my best attempt at capturing what I finally was able to see when I recieved it:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]568425[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>What a mess. It is hard to see but there are missing letters and repunched letters all around. Note that CENTS is spelled with an extra E. ONE is spelled OOEE. DOLLAR is just a jumble of letters. UNIT seems to be the only word actually spelled correct.</p><p><br /></p><p>Also, if you are curious, the seller was not selling this coin as a real example. And they werent selling it as a fake either. They had it listed as a commemorative. It was cheap. And in the wrong hands it could have been easily sold as the real deal. From the research I have done, this is by far, one of the best fakes I have personally seen of the draped bust design, and seems that the casts would have been made from a real example, kind of like how some of the contemporary counterfeits were made.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now I dont know much more about this piece, or even if it is from China. I have heard Spain has produced some very decieving examples, but have never seen any. Now this one has its signs that are obvious when looked closley but, it wouldnt take much to make this piece better and that is scary.</p><p><br /></p><p>Regardless, always be leary what you are buying online. I know it has been said many, many times on here, but always do your research before buying. Who knows how many of this quality or better exist and how many are sitting in unsuspecting collections.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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