For those who may be unfamiliar with the story, can you tell us a little bit about these Omega counterfeits, and why you are so excited to have purchased a pair of counterfeits?
First, I am not saying they are mine. I am not saying they aren't either. These are some of the most famous counterfeit coins out there. They are exact replicas of the 1907 high relief st gaudens. The counterfeiter (The Omega Man) was so cocky he signed his work, by adding an omega symbol in the eagle's claw. They were good enough to fool even the experts for a long time. Only discovered to be fake when someone noticed the omega symbol.
Wow, those are good fakes. I saw a slabbed one graded MS-6O that was FS at $16,000 a few months ago. I don't collect in that price range but enjoyed checking it out. Just curious, did the coin weigh the same and have the proper gold content as the original?
Wow, very interesting. I've never seen one in person, and I'd rather have one of those than a common date saint.
I happen to like the common date "Saints". Here is my first one: I own the 1927 in my avatar as well as several other ones. I just like them.
Nothing wrong with common dates. I just find the omega counterfeit more interesting than a common saint gaudens. Especially since most of the value on common ones lie in the gold content, I'd rather have something more interesting for the same intrinsic value.
Video of the raw one: https://www.instagram.com/p/BoDJREABlRe/?hl=en&taken-by=elizabethtown_coins Video of the slabbed one: https://www.instagram.com/p/BoDGmGghpqv/?hl=en&taken-by=elizabethtown_coins
There were apparently up to 20,000 of these made. They were so perfect that the only reason they were detected was because there was suddenly more of them being submitted than usual, and so the authenticators started taking a closer look. The same Omega Man counterfeited some $3 gold dates as well, equally as perfect except for the symbol. Does anyone know if Tom Delorey posts here at all? I know he goes by CaptHenway on NGC and PCGS forums, but he was involved with the group that actually identified these.
So these were made fairly recently? I thought they were quite old. Is there an accurate online ref describing them?
They were first identified in the 1970's. Nobody knows when or by whom they were made. (reading the thread below, looks like I was mistaken about Tom helping to discover these) This discussion in the thread linked below is about the best info I've ever seen about them. Maybe our old friend @Insider can tell us more? https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/963500/question-regarding-omega-mans-counterfeit-20-gold