Are these Trade Dollars on ebay fake?

NumisEd

Counterfeit Trade Dollar on Ebay?

Another one.....

they look fake to me, but I don't know anything about Trade Dollars. Thanks in advance for your help.

AquilaRose

I'm pretty sure they are fake. There was a story about a hoard of really good fake Trade Dollars at a coin show in Hong Kong. Within a month or two they started showing up on ebay. I am no expert..but if it looks like a duck...

Russ

They must be real. He says right in the auction:



<< <i>All the coin are guarantee Genuine. >>



Russ, NCNE

MadMarty

And if you fly to China, I'm sure he will refund your money!!

Bwhahahahahahahaha!

AbesNeighbor

A better question might be "Would you send your money to China and hope he sends the coin?"

Dan

keoj

The obvious diagnostics look okay to me. Type I/I, feathers and fingers look correct. Hard to say with the quality of picture. On a best guess, I'd probably say the coins are real but many of the coins in China were harshly cleaned. In addition, one should assume that you would never see your money again if there were an issue. I have no proof that the Seller is bad (he might be very good) but overseas transactions can be complicated. My advice is NO.

keoj

JD

I've seen a lot of fake trade dollars in Japan but none of them are unc or white, they are all circulated and have a steel gray toning. Most are dated 1874, 1876 or 1878. As sated above, all of the real ones that I've seen in coin shops have been cleaned. A US dealer once told me that many of the Trade dollars sent to China returned to the US during the 80's as US dealers flocked to China to scoop them up. I can't prove this but I can say I've yet to find an original, raw, problem free trade dollar after three years of searching in Tokyo. (The one exception was a proof trade dollar). I haven't even found any chopmarked ones. The coins pictured look real but so do the fakes I hold. The first thing to give them away is the weight, most of the fakes weigh between 21-24 grams. A trained eye can also see that the toning is unlike typical silver toning but unfortunately I'm not one.

NumisEd

Shiro??? Anyone??

tradedollarnut

No obvious tell-tale signs of being fake, but that doesn't mean they aren't excellent copies.

rd5425

If I was you, I wouldn't even deal with people out of the country, there is too much that can go wrong, and I hardly doubt ebay would be able to do anything if he ripped you off, also Im not sure that US laws would be applicable in China so I would totally avoid this auction regardless of if its real or not.

dragon

That coin looks counterfeit to me, rims and devices don't look right.

dorkkarl

common hong-kong fakes

K S