Alchemy is extremely difficult

relayer

I used my 4 free submissions and got a 75% casualty rate, with 1 XF45. Ok, I can understand the cleaning, but the 1908 $2.50 Indian sure was a surprise!

BSqr

newbie question, what does 'not genuine' mean exactly?
Is it not a real authentic US Minted gold coin? If not then what is it? Is it even gold?

nwcs

It could be a number of things, but I would suspect it is a counterfeit coin. And most counterfeit gold coins are gold. They were done to allow the maker to sell gold during the time that bullion gold ownership was illegal but coin gold ownership was legal.

FC57Coins

Ouch Relayer - that was quite a hit! Sorry to hear that.

One good thing about the gold coins is that they can still be traded for bullion, so I guess that's some help, but I'm sure it was a dissapointment.

Frank

cdmead

A lot of $2 1/2 and $5 Indians are counterfeit. I've heard a story that you could go to shows in the 60s and 70s and see holders of complete sets that were counterfeit.

Because of the incuse devices, it is very hard to detect a counterfeit Indian. I've been told you need to look at the area below the neck for metal flow from die striking. Also I've been told to look for tool marks or die polish on the neck itself.

The ANA has published two counterfeit detection books that you can find on eBay a lot of times. Very good pictures.

I hope this helps,

Charlie

JD

Are they trying to save money with a generic tag or can they really not tell the difference between a coin that has been cleaned or whizzed?

nwcs

It's a general tag.

goyankeez

Sorry.

So that's what those bodybags look like.

Coulport

I don't know if the number of counterfeit $2.50 Indians is equal to the number of genuine coins but there are sure a lot of them.
Seems to me that the source was Lebanon before that country went in the tank. They were die struck examples make of good gold but the color was off.
Saw a 20 coin sheet of them at a major show and everyone was a different date. Even when sold for jewelry grade, they end up back in numismatic circles again.
You really need to know this and the $5 series if you are going to buy raw coins.

baccaruda

relayer -

i wouldn't be too upset if you've got one of those $2.50 indians that's counterfeit, especially if it's real gold. it sounds like the creation of your coin is a lot more interesting than a big machine at the mint stamping one out.

this may be the one instance where i'd rather have the counterfeit...

relayer

Thanks for the information.

My experience with raw coins hasn't been rewarding. I thought I learned when I paid $500 for an 1860 IHC I was sure was MS-65. It came back MS64.

From my point of view, buying the plastic is very inexpensive

Placid

I wonder if took more than 5 seconds to body bag the 2-1/2 indian.