I tried my best over at forvm to learn how to detect them, but all there pics of counterfeits look like the real deal to me. What is the best and easiest way to detect fakes? stainless
The best way to recognize 90% of counterfeits is to look at the fabric of the coin. Know how surfaces can and should look, compared to the way they do on counterfeits. To get this down, you have to look at a lot of genuine coins. And counterfeits too. Its kind of like learning to read. Really difficult when you're learning, but once you know you can't explain how you learned!
I should probably add that its almost entirely different from detecting counterfeits in modern coins. There are no standard die diagnostic to compare to. Yes, you can compare to dies of genuine coins. But what if its a very high quality cast? It will have the same characteristics! The best way is definately looking for artifacts of the manufacturing process. One of the only ways to catch fakes of the often-counterfeited Byzantine gold series is to look for signs that the coin was machine struck. Keep looking at coins, both real and fake.
