how do you spot fake Trade Dollars, anyway?

How important is a magnet test in this situation? I've heard many fakes are actually in silver -is this true?

 

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Very nice thread and I'm waiting on my tade dollar as we speak. This tread will help me alot when I get it in hand awesome!!

 

tb,

The magnet test can be conclusive. If your Trade Dollar is attracted to a magnet you can be certain it is fake. But if your Trade Dollar is not attracted to a magnet it could still be fake and further investigation would be needed.

 

Here's to reviving a very old, but VERY helpful and useful thread.

To anyone who was waiting for a result on the weight, I finally have an answer. The day after I posted the article, I got wrapped up in other things and managed to forget about getting a gram scale to weigh the coin. Then a week later I was going to use my neighbors, but he went out of town, and since then the issue has just been buried and forgotten about. I couldn't find a daggum scale ANYWHERE in town tonight so I went to the mall, went to each jewelry store and asked if they had a gram scale. Conclusively my coin weighs 27.2 grams (didn't find any to measure out to the .01) but I'll take 27.2!

 

Hello,

I apologize for bringing back an old thread from the dead, but I was wondering if you guys would take a look at a coin for me. It's a trade dollar and I was just curious about its authenticity.

Thanks in advance

 

Based upon the info presented at the first of the thread, I would say this one is genuine.

 

USED TO BE THEY HAD LITTLT DIMPLES IN THE DENTICLES when they were poured and not stamped. A lot of them the obverse and reverse were out of kilter . I stopped buying them unless they were graded ,but I was burned on that. I have 9 fakes now ,So I just quit buying them

 

I would like to see it in person but it does not look genuine .There are some spatter and holes in it . It also looks too good .Sorry but send it to a grading company like ANACS If it is a fake ,you only lose $5

 

I said this in the other thread and might as well here too: start with the mintmarks(s). This one should be easy enough to answer on your own. Good luck.

 

I'm a rank amateur, so I would appreciate some elaboration =) Here are the pics I took with macro mode.

 

I guess what BB4Coins was trying to say is that coins with CC mintmark are commonly fakes. So don't buy any raw CC Morgan if you're not an expert on the series... I don't do that either

 

Actually, it was because, contrary to what others have (in this and the other thread) suggested, this was (IMO) the easiest and quickest way to positively identify this as a counterfeit; beyond the overall look of the piece and other issues, the mintmark(s) are incorrect for the date.

http://www.pcgs.com/books/silver-dollars/Chapter12Listings-007.aspx

No offense intended (to the OP or anyone else) and not that there is anything wrong asking for or help, but I feel the best way for one to learn is by trying to first answer the question themselves.

 

This is outside my area, but it just takes a look to see that this coin is questionable at best. I did a search for "1873 cc Trade Dollar" and found this image from David Lawrence.

http://images.davidlawrence.com/ProductImagesCDN/361xxx/361825_r.jpg

David Lawrence is well-known and highly respected. DLRC Press (David Lawrence Rare Coins) has published a dozen standard references by David Lange, Rick Tomaska, and others.

So, I trust them as authoritative. The Mintmark CC on their picture does not match the one from the inquirer, endlessnameless. Books Before Coins says it all. (Just to edit in - I went to the PCGS Website recommended above. Quite a bit there to read. And checking the Red Book of course.)

Trade Dollars are commonly faked. At an ANA convention I showed one in my talk on counterfeits before destroying it with bolt cutters.

 

Thanks for such an interesting thread. I didn't realize that counterfeiting of this series is so pervasive. Sometime I would like to acquire a PCGS or NGC certified common date TD in lower grade (i.e. VG-VF). Are the Chinese counterfeit slabs limited to the higher grade or scarcer date coins, or are they also counterfeiting the lower priced ones like I am looking for?

 

I would say so far they are limited to coins of AU and up , at least that's what I've seen . Better to ask someone more knowledgeable as I'm still learning the series . Buy from a reputable dealer in a slab . Or learn the series .

 

For a NEW collector, or one inexperienced, assume EVERY single Trade Dollar not in a slab is counterfeit, and do not buy them, unless authenticated by the most reliable dealer in the world. Read up on the series, and look at lots of coins--both genuine and obvious fakes. Some of the newer ones that are struck are so good, they would fool many collectors not very familiar with the series.

 

Nice to see that this thread still has some value to that tiny community interested in trade dollars!

 

Doc , definitely a must read thread for those starting to collect and those that want to learn about Trade dollars . There's a lot of good information in this thread , Thanks again .

 

Just came across this thread. Made me realize these two TDs I was looking at are both fakes.

Great info!

 

I just won an Ebay auction yesterday for my first Trade dollar and am anxiously waiting to get it in hand. It's a PCGS VF25 in a new holder with the secure hologram that just came out this year. This gives me some peace of mind that I am a step ahead of the Beijing mint lol... I'm thankful for everyone's advice on this thread as it has convinced me to be paranoid about counterfeits, so paranoid that had the coin been in an older slab I might not have bid on it unless the seller was a big name dealer.