So, I got back into coins and I bought a couple of Trade Dollars. While researching them, I came across this site and all the info on fake TDs. The first one graded out to F 12. The diameter was correct, there isn't anything at least to me that screams fake. I did weigh it with a new scale I just purchased (calibrated correctly) and it weighed 26.8. A little light. Here's a couple of pictures of it.
The next one I bought, everything checks out fine with it. Magnet test, weight, and size. It looks quite nice, especially in hand. The pictures do it no justice. The color is wrong in the pictures. Both passed the Neodymium Magnet Test Coin Slide.
They both look genuine to me. The 74 S may have some issues with the surfaces, perhaps a cleaning and / or pvc damage, or seawater issues. Kind of hard to tell from the photos. As I'm sure you know, buying raw trade dollars can be risky, so exercise caution.
They both look OK to me, but the 77 S strikes me as being lighter than it should be. It is .4 grams below spec, and .3 grams below tolerance. I'm not sure that amount of wear would account for that much of a weight loss.
Sorry if I was unclear. Fake or real? And thank you ksparrow and Conder101 for your opinion on my coins.
They look ok, but some Chinese fakes will pass most tests that people use. Given that it is the most counterfeited coin, I would only buy a certified Trade Dollar.
That's what I've been doing now since I started reading about forgeries. I bought 2 more last night. Both were NGC certified and had clear pictures of the same coin on their site. The second coin in my pictures in this thread. I liked the way it looked. I studied it for a few hours before I bought it. I felt it was real, but I wanted a few opinions of people who've been doing this longer than me.
Sorry for being negative, but I’d return both coins immediately. None of them has original surfaces and even if they turn out to be authentic, I’d save up and buy a higher grade coin, certified by NGC/PCGS.
That's what I've been doing. I'm not one looking for the unbelievable deal. I'll buy certified coins from now on. As for those 2 coins. I'm keeping them. I enjoy studying them. They're flawed, I know. That's why I posted them here, to get opinions if they're fake or real. I'm satisfied that they're real, flaws and all.
On both of them, the reeding looks even and well done. There's nothing odd looking about it. I compared the reeding to the pictures you had on the thread how do you spot fake Trade Dollars, anyway? They both look like the middle coin. I do have a camera, it needs batteries though. I don't know as of yet if it will take a good picture of a coin. If it does, I'll try to post pictures of the reeds. I'm going out right now to buy batteries.
Thanks for the extra photos. Edge reeding looks good. the surfaces on the obv look better than I thought on the first set of photos. Short of having it in hand, looks good to me.
Sorry, I had to go to work, or I would've posted this sooner, I just got home. Thank you ksparrow, I really appreciate you making time to look at my TD.