I've heard the stories and seen pictures of these coins, and I'd really like to own one. Any idea how I'd go about it and what I could expect to pay? I think I'd prefer a St. Gaudens double eagle. Oh, and post your Omega gold coins, if you have any!
I've seen pictures of privately owned ones on the internets. They're probably about as illegal as Henning nickels. I'm not a lawyer or affiliated with the DoJ or Secret Service, but my impression is that, while technically they may not be, the SS is not going to come busting down your door to seize them.
Buy as many raw 1882 $3 and 1907 $20 as you can, especially when the price is too-good-to-be-true, and see if some have a tiny omega hidden inside the R of Liberty or somewhere else ;-)
I had an Omega $3 once. I did not purchase it as a counterfeit. It was an expensive learning experience. The denticles are the best tell, I found out later.
The Omega counterfeits were one of the earliest identified counterfeit gold pieces. The maker signed them with a tiny greek omega. Google it - there are tons of articles For example: https://www.ngccoin.com/news/article/3033/Counterfeit-1882-three-dollar/
They are very deceptive counterfeit gold coins that surfaced in the 1970s. It's practically impossible to identify an Omega gold coin without magnification. The easiest way to do so is that the counterfeiter (referred to as the "Omega man") put a small signature in the form of a tiny "Ω" on the coin. Omega man has never been caught (nor has it actually been proven to be a man, just assumed.)
All different kinds were made. I've heard of eagles, double eagles, and $3 gold of various dates. There are probably more.
It is not illegal to own counterfeits, it's not even illegal to sell them - as long as you specify that they are counterfeits. Selling them only becomes illegal when you try to pass them off as being genuine coins. Counterfeits are bought and sold on a daily basis, some collectors even specialize and only collect counterfeits. And from to time to time even the large auction houses will offer counterfeits for sale. Some examples of counterfeits are even far more valuable than the genuine examples of the coin.
Thanks for the link and the suggestion to look up the "Omega" C/F's. Unfortunately, the Internet stories are incomplete and far from the actual story! One site mentions a "story" about one of the coins being slabbed as a genuine. That may be true; however, both the $3 and $20 were detected and named at ANACS in DC a decade before slabs were around! Additionally, there are no "bubbles" on these coins as one site claimed. Both coins are struck counterfeits. If I remember, the High Relief fake first turned up around the time of the ANA convention in DC. The $3 was found later at ANACS. I have several articles and columns in my C/F files explaining the entire history of these coins and how they got their name. Michael Fazzari discovered them and the Director of ANACS (Charles Hoskins) named them. I will look for the articles and post more this week. Presently I own two of the twenty's and one $3. I sold another $20 for $300 over the price of a genuine $20 Saint decades ago. BTW...These coins were the best fakes around in the 70's; however, they are no longer considered very good counterfeits as their luster and color is "off."
Yeah, they are detectable, even if the Ω is removed, because they have certain diagnostic tool marks. They are still quite deceptive and will fool many collectors, which is part of what makes them cool.
Yeah, half of what makes them cool to me is that the Omega Man was never identified or caught. It'd be kind of like owning a piece of a D. B. Cooper note.
Just curious...exactly how many "Omega" High Reliefs have you seen with the mark in the claw tooled off? Do you have any specific diagnostics besides the "Omega" we can look for on these fakes.
The only one that I can find is there is a tool mark between the M and E of America on the Omega high reliefs . Again it's best to know the die characteristics of the real pieces and make sure they match the suspect coin .