Is this ebay Trade Dollar a great fake?

thanks Phubanks, looks like a proof
hey, those neck feathers should not be touching the wing.....

 

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That's the rub!!! It really doesnt look fake (to my eye) other than it looks too good (freshly minted). The seller was from China (big red flag) with 0 sales. He had about 10 other coins on his site for sale including an 1889CC Morgan (that coin was raw (unholdered) and obviously fake -- even my untrained eye could spot that one).

Someone in this thread noted that the font used on the fake PCGS label on this coin was darker and bolder than a real PCGS label. The counterfeiter was sophisticated enough to use a PCGS registry number that was used on a real Trade Dollar (same date and mint).


BE VERY VERY CAREFUL OUT THERE ... ESPECIALLY ON EBAY, AND REALLY ANYWHERE ...

 

This is what a genuine 1874 Trade Dollar looks like ... The fake is damn good.

 

I wouldn't buy that or any other coin from China. I wouldn't buy anything like that from China.

But my daughter buys Pokemons from China. My wife's bought cheap jewelry and stuff like that from China. I've bought Yo-Yos from China. I know what I'm getting. I only pay a buck or two. Shipping is usually free. Delivery is a fast as can be expected. I have never been burned by the Chinese yet, but I would pass on the coin.

 

not sure how one would detect the fake ... weighing the coin might work? maybe the line on the base of the 1 and the 4 in the date is thicker on the fake? we must have some experts on this site that could give us some pointers.

 

Thanks for posting a legit specimen. :thumb:

To me, the date digits on the ebay item don't look anything like the digits on the legit specimen.

I concur with others in this thread... with few exceptions, be very wary of Trade Dollars from any source.

 

I agree the number fonts aren'tquite right, but this is a much better fake than usually seen. Also they have apparently corrected one of the most obvious errors on their counterfeit slabs as well. This will make them harder to detect as well.

I do think that in the near future PCGS is going to have to start including a good photo of the coin with their online slab verification. I just hope they o a better job of it than NGC did. Don't bother with a scan of the whole slab, the written text can confirm what is supposed to be in the slab. You need a GOOD enlargable picure of the COIN that is supposed to be in the slab so you can make sure it matches the coin in the slab you are looking at. A scan of the whole slab that lets you see the label information but not the fine details of the actual coin they slabbed is usually worthless.

 

i think you have this 100% right conner ... can someone suggest this to pcgs?

 

conder not conner ... sorry!