A genuine 1877 Japanese Trade Dollar would have a 38.6mm diameter, and weigh 27.2g, about 1.1g less than an av. ounce. The seller says that the coin is "authentic to the best of my knowledge", but she also claims to be liquidating the collection of her deceased coin dealer husband. Why did she start the auction at $9.99 with no reserve, when a genuine TD in that condition books somewhere north of $1,000; why does she misidentify a coin with the most valuable date as an 1875; and why are there only two bids in the closing hours of the auction, both from individuals with no history of buying high end Japanese coins? IMO the answer lies in the shape and alignment of the English lettering, the heaviest wear being in the wrong places, and an overall "wrong look" to the dragon. I never knowingly pay more than $10 for a counterfeit, so since the price started over $10 when S/H was taken into account, I'm passing on this "bargain". While I haven't seen enough examples in hand to be completely confident in my attribution, I suspect this one to be a modern so-called replica, intended to cheat a collector, rather than a 19th century counterfeit intended to cheat a trading partner. Any other opinions?
My uninfomred opinion is that it was heavily cleaned, but more likely a counterfeit. There are just too many c/f coming out of Asia to take a chance on a big "silver" coin.
clever - selling off her deceased coin dealer husbands collection... that way the buyer thinks they are getting a reliable coin from a dealer, and if they find out otherwise - well she 'isn't a collector, and doesn't know anything about these things.' I wonder if her husband kept this coin under the floorboards of his kitchen, like the story typically goes.
While I have no idea how to determine authenticity of foriegn coins, I can however offer some very sound advice. If your gut says that something is wrong, listen to it. It is far better to lose a good deal, than to be burned by a bad one.
As far as it is possible to determine from a scan, i would say that it's a fake. The edge dentilation / beading appears to be wrong. Ian
I looked it up the coin in Krause last night. You were right, the Dragon looks wrong. The scales don't seem as artistic.
And don't you love how they're taking the time to tone these fakes so they look so much more real? Speaking as someone who sells on eBay, I am utterly disgusted with this rash of counterfeits that have hit the market. Even if I had a genuine Trade Dollar, the eBay market for it is garbage because of all the fakes.
I hate this kind of thing. There is a guy on a local internet auction site who has recently been listing coins stating "I know nothing about this coin but ...." then sets an outrageous starting bid. His latest listing states that he has no idea how many of these mint errors are around but if there are less than 1000, its value would be more than 10 times the start bid!! And I'm not even sure that it is a minting error and not just a damaged coin. So far no one has completed an action for any of these coins. I hate to think that one day someone will
