I recently recieved as part of a bulk type lot several of the older electrotype trade dollars. Two of the three had actually been in circulation at some point and had significant wear. My question is this, where can someone find out where and when these were made? I assume (and was told by one dealer) that these were made in the late 1800's as counterfiets and actually circulated in many cases, and even today are sold as the real thing at times. Is this accurate? How would you tell a new electrotype from an old one? They are great looking coins, and I could likely never afford a trade dollar in the condition of these (especially the CC mint copy in BU). So, what is the value? Does anyone collect these? Any books or information sources?
To the best of my knowledge there is no way to tell for certain when an electrotype was made. And it is rather easy to make one look old. Try reading at these two links - Electro-Types Counterfeit Coin Detection
Sounds like they are going to defy cataloging. Nice looking... and at least I know they are fakes and have them marked as electrotypes. Thanks for the info!
My understanding (perhaps limited) is that the majority of the better counterfeit trader dollars were electrotypes, which is a term describing the process by which they were made. They look exactly (to the untrained eye certainly) like the real thing.
I've heard a lot about fake trade dollars and I know they are still being made today, but how do you detect a fake? I know some of the fakes are off in weight, but is there an easier way of spotting them? Thanks, James
As with any counterfeits, they keep getting better and better, and as people spot what's wrong, the bad guys try to fix the problem. Some counterfeits are obvious - they are too heavy, too light, too wide, too narrow, they are castings when they should be struck, etc. Some are fairly easy to spot - the legends are misspelled, design elements are added, design elements are missing, characters are not correctly styled, etc. Some are difficult to spot unless you are an expert - there are subtle differences in the position of characters or design elements, for example. And some are so good that they either fool the experts, or are discovered only by extraordinary means such as microscopic examination. So, to directly answer your question - sometimes yes, sometimes no.
