Fake Morgans!

A couple of Morgan dollars that I bought back when I was getting into coins/silver stacking in late 2018, from ebay!!


But in my defence, these were not the coins I was bidding on, the seller not only had different photos, but also his location was marked USA. However when I received them, the package was sent in a yellow China Post envelope. Sure enough I was duped! I was 100% sure these were fakes, failed the magnet test, ping test, and worse enough a light scratch on the edge revealed brass. At least ebay got my money back, and within days the seller was no longer active!
For better or worse, I'm stuck with these coins ever since!
Show me you fakes if you've got any.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

What do they weigh by the way ? There not really good fakes either. JMO

 

I would say you made out like a bandit.
1. You got your money back.
2. You still have the coins to show what a fake looks like.
Definitely a win win.

 

the 87 weighs 26.81g, and the 79 is 26.93g.

 

Yea , good educational tool as we see here .

 

What's heavier ? Brass or Silver ? Silver , right ?

 

I still don't know how to identify a genuine Morgan, I do have some real Moragns, but I can't see any difference between a real Morgan and a fake one by just looking at them (except the ones containing the obvious fake patina), otherwise I have to weigh, do ping and magnet tests! That's the main reason why most of my American dollar coins are consist of Peace dollars (much easier and less risky to deal with)!

 

on Numista it says 26.73g.

 

That's closer than I thought .

 

Brass and copper are less dense than silver, but only by something like 15%. I've received correct-weight fakes that were the right diameter, but a bit thicker than real coins. It's not hard to see if you're paying attention, but easy to overlook if you aren't.

Look at enough examples of bad and good coins, or even photos here, and you'll start to recognize common flaws in fakes. Not all fakes show the same flaws, but most do. And ALWAYS check EVERY raw coin you get from unfamiliar eBay sellers, and look very carefully at slabbed ones.

 

On those two, note especially the lettering of the reverses.

 

I know most of you know how to verify counterfeit Morgans, but I don't have a clue. I don't have a scale. If you can, I need a simple 1-2-3 on how to verify a counterfeit Morgan. My Dad gave me about 20 and I have just put them with my other coins. Thanks ahead of time.

 

You can buy a small digital scale that weighs to the hundredth of a gram for less than the cost of a single damaged Morgan. Get one of those, and get a small, strong magnet. You can identify fakes without them, but they're cheap, easy to use, and weed out a lot of fakes immediately.

 

SG silver around 10.5, brass around 8.5.

https://www.reade.com/reade-resourc...vity-table-metals-minerals-ceramics-substance

 

The denticles and In God We Trust are my two first points I look at. Both of these are rather crude but interesting to see.

 

You ended up being very lucky indeed. Thanks for the post.

 

Here's my fake. Also got all my money back and kept the "coin":

with a thread:
https://www.cointalk.com/threads/1893-cc-morgan.359183/

 

Okay, I see the motto is messed up, but what do you see in the denticles? And are there any other markers?

 

What clued you in on this fake?

 

Well, my very first clue, without even seeing it, was that it came in manila envelope, from China, with absolutely zero packing material or paperwork. Just a coin in a envelope.

Several of the people in that thread pointed out some very good visual diagnostics.

It's a good fake.