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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Vess1, post: 743965, member: 13650&quot;]I believe there are several different levels of quality when it comes to fakes.&nbsp;&nbsp; And there are several different levels of collector experience that will be able to spot any one of those levels.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; The first level would be the obvious fakes out there.&nbsp; There are some that are so obvious that everybody here should be able to spot one immediately.&nbsp; It still takes experience.&nbsp; &nbsp; It may be a really bad color.&nbsp; It may be a feature that&#039;s obviously wrong.&nbsp; Or too big or too small, but obvious.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; The next level would be examples that are not so obvious.&nbsp; At first glance to even an experienced collector, they may pass as real.&nbsp; Nothing is obviously wrong.&nbsp; But there may be one or several very minor, hard to see issues that give it away.&nbsp; But you really have to look hard.&nbsp;&nbsp; Such as a grainy surface from casting, which can be impossible to see in a picture and hard to see in hand by the naked eye.&nbsp; &nbsp; A small spike coming from the denticles.&nbsp;&nbsp; Maybe some of the reeding in the reeded edge isn&#039;t perfect.&nbsp; &nbsp; Maybe tool marks or a minor piece of raised metal on the surface.&nbsp; &nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; Most will have at least some minor problem as it&#039;s not easy to create fakes as perfect as the originals, from new dies or castings.&nbsp;&nbsp; But it is easy to create something very similar that will fool most.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; The next level would be examples like the Morgans we saw from the &#039;legal&#039; Chinese counterfeiting ring.&nbsp;&nbsp; The reeded edges looked perfect.&nbsp; No obvious problems.&nbsp; Metal content may be exactly as the originals.&nbsp;&nbsp; Possibly no flaws.&nbsp;&nbsp; Will fool even the most knowledgeable collector and dealer.&nbsp; These are the most dangerous.&nbsp; Weights and diameters may be correct.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; All I can say is try to get to know the average color by looking at real ones.&nbsp; Get a good caliper.&nbsp; I have a digital one that measures in english or metric.&nbsp;&nbsp; Also, get a digital scale.&nbsp;&nbsp; Real ones will have some variances in weight from the standard most of the time.&nbsp; Sometimes a lot of variance if they&#039;re heavily worn.&nbsp; &nbsp; But a MS, unworn coin that is well underweight, and out of mint tolerances should raise red flags.&nbsp;&nbsp; As an example.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; I bought some fake buffalo nickels one time.&nbsp; The diameter of my real ones were within 0.01 mm.&nbsp;&nbsp; No exceptions.&nbsp; The fakes were 0.15 mm larger in diameter.&nbsp;&nbsp; Still very hard to tell by the naked eye but a relatively huge, and obvious difference.&nbsp;&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; There are some really good Morgan fakes out there.&nbsp;&nbsp; That would be a good series to study because there are a lot of fakes.&nbsp; The Chinese are still legally producing them today.&nbsp; &nbsp; There was an article in Coinage that said a guy did an experiment with a set of uncirculated Morgan fakes.&nbsp; He had a dealer at a show offer $30k for the set before telling him they were all fakes.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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