Reply to Thread

Message:: [QUOTE="cpm9ball, post: 1267071, member: 24633"]First of all, when it comes to key dates in the Morgan series, I encourage you to try to avoid raw coins completely. Even if they are from a reputable dealer, there is still the risk of buying a counterfeit, and China is getting very, very good at producing them. Just recently, a very well-known and respected dealer "shopped" some known counterfeits to other dealers (without telling them) at a MAJOR show, and nearly all of them were fooled by them. One of the reasons for this is that at least one of the Chinese counterfeiters is known to be using the very same equipment that the US Mint used to produce them. This equipment was given to China by the US when they were building their own mint facility in Shanghai back in the 20's. Decades later, when China was modernizing their mint, the equipment was sold for scrap and a few enterprising businessmen bought and refurbished the equipment sometime in the 90's. It's not unusual to see key dates with problems sell at major auctions because there are many collectors who simply can't afford the prices of problem-free specimens and they want to try to build a matched set even if it means they have to resort to a problem coin. That's a decision that only you can make. Chris[/QUOTE]