Silver dollar weights and Chinese fakes........

Fakey McFakefake

 

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I got a 1888 o Morgan silver dollar last week and I'm having doubts about it being real the weight of the coin is 26.26 grams I've not had the chance to measure it yet cuz I dont have the tools to do so yet I'm just wondering if I should write this off as a fake or not. Its passed the other basic tests, it sounds the same as my other sliver coins I'm just concerned with the weight and the fact I got it off Ebay, winning the bid for $26. It has some spots where it's got lil bits of Metal missing are like a little gouge in it some thinking that maybe that could affect the weight. Any thoughts

 

Only that if you can't show us photos, and can't at least check whether it's the same size and thickness as another Morgan dollar, we probably can't help you.

Welcome to CoinTalk!

 

How do I share pics

 

I should be getting my caliptor digital measuring tool in the mail Thursday to give it the only other tests I know how to do. I seen a video where this guy used something like a black board to rub the coins on to see the color of the sliver coins to see if it matches to a real sliver coin. My problem with that is I dont know what kinda black board he used. I tried this on my son's chalkboard but it didn't do what I seen in the video. I wanna say he called it an acid test or something but I would figure an acid test would be with liquid and a black board?

 

The "blackboard" is called a touchstone. It is a fine grain stone (sorry I don't know the exact mineral) and it acts like a very fine sand paper to scrape a little bit of silver off the edge of the coin leaving a streak of metal on the stone. You then put s drop of a known concentration of acid on the strek to see if it reacts and if so how fast. There are different acid concentrations to determine the fineness of the metal. Touchstones withthe proper acids can be used to determine the fineness of either gold or silver. In some cases they will also make streaks along side the test streak using testing needles which are small rods of metal of known fineness.you put streaks of several different fineness alongside the streak in question and put the acid on all of them and observe which needle streak reacts the same and the test streak.

 

The surfaces on your coin look a little grainy, which could be from environmental exposure. Between that and the wear, 26.26 seems like a realistic weight. (I just weighed a pair of Morgans a bit more worn than yours, and they both came out just under 26 grams; a BU Morgan on the same scale weighed 26.76.)

I think it's probably a genuine coin. I also think you overpaid by a few bucks, but it's been a while since I've checked the Morgan market; maybe $26 is the going rate now.

I think you can rest easy.

 

Do not rub your coins on a touchstone or anything else. If real, you just damaged your coin and it is worth less than before. There are other ways to authenticate that will not hurt the value of a coin.

 

Ill take the liberty to say read wheatmaster's reply above.

 

It should weigh 26.73g. Even accounting for wear, 22.8g says fake for sure. Coming from China doesn't help. Unless that's a grease filled die, there is a "dot" missing between the E and the PLURIBUS on the reverse side, and the rock on which the eagle is perched looks different.

 

This "member" made ONE post back in 2018 and none since then. I don't think he is listening!

 

This "member" made ONE post back in 2018 and none since then. I don't think he is listening!

 

Thanks. Lol. I somehow KEEP forgetting to check the date. I think it's because it's in the daily emails and so I assume it's current. Hahaha.