I’ve seen these more and more of these eBay this past month. Sellers hawking off quality replicas of key Morgan dates. Though I’ve brought this up before, in this listing’s case, one need not look further than the “multiple available/sold” 89’ CC’s. Reminder to us all that the old adage “if it sounds too good to be true, it is” …is true - especially regarding coins.
It's not just Morgans. I have seen a lot of Peace dollars, commems, half's, and even dimes that were counterfeit and being sold on eBay lately and have posted links to a few on here. It's not as most think, as in coming from China either, they are coming from everywhere. Seems there are no consequences for making or selling them, period. Written laws are absolutely useless if no one enforces them.
Guess what? For all practical purposes there ARE NO consequences for making and selling fake coins. And as Baretta used to say "that's how that old tune goes."
Yes...it's another example of a high-quality fake, not a high-quality coin. It's true to scale, of acceptable weight, and composed from 90% silver. Additionally, it's struck from a die versus molded. Quality may be subjective, but money talks. That listing alone (in bulk, mind you) sold 4 of them @ $180 a piece.
No, it's not for anyone other than dreamland "deal seeking" idiots. Better advice would be to only buy what one knows, and then only if they can be honest with themselves about their knowledge and abilities. A little common sense added to the mix certainly wouldn't hurt either, but there are worse venues/options for those unable to do so.
I guess we have a different definition of "high quality". The first thing I noticed about the coin after the coloration that looks more like pot metal than 90% silver were all of the raised blisters left from the casting process. Just looking at the nose area of Liberty on the obverse, you can see bumps right at the tip of Liberty's nose, another at about the level of her eye (but in front of the nose), and another right in front of her hair line at forehead level. But those are just the first three that I noticed - that signature of an obvious forgery is really all over the place. But that's just one of the more obvious problems. There are other problems that I have with that "coin".
I'm not sure that's a die struck fake. I see at least 4 casting bubbles on the obverse in front of the face, and possibly one on the jaw near the ear.
I think the blister on the jaw by the ear is a pimple. Since Morgan's were only 11 years old in 1889, Liberty was just starting to go through puberty. On the reverse, there are also blisters on the bottom of the first S in the word STATES and at the top of the eagle's head. Back to the obverse, there are also blisters above the E in E PLURBUS UNUM, to the lower right side of the star closest to the same E, and right below the neck line above the first 8 in 1889.
First, it's not a coin at all but a counterfeit, and from all outward appearances it is far from a quality fake; to the contrary, it is blatantly obvious. With that said, unless you purchased one of the claimed 89-CCs from the linked listing, may I ask how you know its exact size, weight, and most importantly, composition? The only reason quality is "subjective" (in this respect) is because not everyone knows better or has the ability to identify this dog for what it is, and the fact two sold at that price proves nothing more than that there are those with more money than brains. I'm sorry, but while there certainly are dangerous fakes out there, this isn't one of them except, perhaps, to those who are even more of a danger to themselves.
This forum has made me even MORE leery of buying anything of value raw on Ebay. I happily buy VERY low value coins, the kind that even if they were counterfeit I would only have lost $1 - $2. It's too bad, Ebay used to be a great place to buy. 10 - 15 years ago I bought loads of great stuff there. No more. No. No. No.
I wouldn't bet on it being solid silver. I have a fake commemorative half that appears to be 90% but has a soild copper core.
what really cracks me up is "the coin in the picture is the actual one you will get" and then there is a quantity button. Soooo, I guess you can have as many exact copies of the fake as you want? Um, am I missing something or do they really get people to buy into that? Guess they sold out.
