An article in this weeks Numismatic News by F. Michael (Skip) Fazzari is interesting in that it makes mention of how old fakes and counterfeits are returning to the public eye. Old time collections which have been buried for years and resurface as the owners pass away or collections are sold after years in hiding makes one wonder just how many people have purchased counterfeits over the years never knowing this until it is too late to make any difference to the original owners. He also makes mention that he frequents this site and Collectors Universe and gives honorable mention to Jack Young and his contributions to EAC counterfeit research, which I thought was nice. Wondering if anyone here or anyone you know might have one of these counterfeit coins and not know it yet?
Thanks, I did not know that. @Insider Thanks for another great piece in NN. I always look forward to your articles.
If they didn't know it yet, how could they respond in the affirmative? Lol I purposefully purchased the following, to get it out of the market. Got my money back AND got to keep it. BTW, there were 5 and I have them all Thought about giving one away (for educational puposes) in a contest, but didn't know if that would be against the rules. Also thought about having some fun and posting in "What's It Worth" or doing a GTG. Can you tell how I immediately knew from pictures that it was counterfeit?
Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner!!! New Orleans didn't mint Morgans until 1879. Being 27.1 grams and magnetic rule out any possibility of an error at the Mint, as well. Although it sure would be sweet to have 5 of that kind of error.
This, but the the one thing we know for certain is that they are out there and the buyers just don't know it. Still happens today
When you say old fakes... In my mind that would be prior to the rise of the Chinese market wouldn’t it? That’s something of a recent phenomenon isn’t it? Being that I been living under a rock prior to joining CT I truly did not know just how prevalent the Chinese counterfeit market was.
ironically, i just got in today from China..it came up when i was looking at legit 1816 coins of Russia.. little over $2 shipped. Reproduction Czarina Anne coin
I am sure when people inherit coins, and have no interest in them, and they take them to the LCS to sell them, they are informed that some of them are fakes.
True that @theflinn ! I got a 36D washington quarter off ebay last month. Weighed 5.3 grams. Supposed to weigh 6.25 grams. You can buy one just like it from China for a buck! Some of us have learned the hard way about ebay....
tommyc03, posted: "An article in this week's Numismatic News...is interesting in that it makes mention of how old fakes and counterfeits are returning to the public eye. Old time collections which have been buried for years and resurface as the owners pass away or collections are sold after years in hiding..." I appreciate your comments that prove I have two people reading what I write - you and my wife! I'll share the column here (sorry, no images. You'll need to subscribe to Numismatic news): I think I’ve began an authentication column in the past reminding readers that: “Everything old is new again.” From what I can discover, this statement refers to history repeating itself or what goes around comes around again. Apparently, this is a paraphrased and condensed version of a quote found in the Bible: Ecclesiastes 1:9 “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.” This is often how I, and many professional authenticators must feel at the major Third-Party Grading Services (TPGS) as we examine one of the older counterfeits that we first saw in the 1970’s. Many of these “old friends” are still around waiting to be discovered in old collections or unknowingly traded as genuine in the backroads of our hobby. Professional authenticators at the major grading services see thousands of coins a week. Over time the diagnostics of often seen genuine and counterfeit coins become “burned” into their memory. Let’s take the 1926 Sesquicentennial $2 ½ dollar gold piece as an example. One particular die is seen with a small “lump” (extraneous metal or EM) over the date that is easy to remember. Later a die break is seen across “Liberty’s” face. In the 1970’s, counterfeiters used a genuine coin as this to make a transfer die so every-so-often you will encounter a counterfeit Sesquicentennial coin with this lump. Since this characteristic is found on both counterfeit and genuine coins, it is not a useful diagnostic to rely on for coin authentication. Figure 1 shows part of the reverse of a counterfeit struck with a different obverse die without the lump. The die used to make this fake has been reworked to change its appearance. When long-time authenticators examine this old fake, they find a pattern of tool marks rather than the former “marker” between the “ER” of “America” used to detect this counterfeit decades ago when it as first discovered. While bringing up this old counterfeit, it may be a good time to review some of the other characteristics seen on older fakes that have virtually disappeared from our newer counterfeits. Gradually, as the methods of making false dies has improved, so have the counterfeits. That’s why many of the older defects seen on fakes such as “wormy tool marks” are rarely seen on counterfeits made after 1980. As more and more of the counterfeit “tell-tales” disappear, we may reach an interesting time for coin authentication. Perhaps, a day will come when all the older counterfeits are either destroyed or impounded off the market in teaching sets. Then as more types of counterfeit defects used as diagnostic “markers” disappear, everything new we see, will actually be new under the sun!
It will be a Brave New World when the techniques of minting outside the mint are as good or better than those inside. It isn't too far away, if at all. Improvements in 3-D printing and laser engraving are getting better every day.
Not really, they have always been a major counterfeiter of trade dollars. Fake trade dollars from China were rather common in the 70's. And of course in gold the Middle East was a BIG counterfeiter of US gold coins. Before ANACS came along and over the next 15 years identified so many of the counterfeits, counterfeit gold coins, especially the one dollar type II and three dollar gold, were very common. PCGS is often given the credit for "solving" the counterfeit problem, it was really ANACS that did the bulk of the work.
