raw Trade Dollars - worth the risk?

sinin1

With all the copies coming out of Asia, are trade dollars just like raw smaller gold?

Some obviously poor fakes are easily detected but the better ones, do you need to know the die pairs and characteristics for each date/mm combination?

An example follows, looks pretty good, but is it authentic?

darktone

sinin1- with all the counterfiets as of late I think I would stay away from these raw unless you are good enough at these coins to make the risk of your money worth it. mike

Steve27

Whenever I see a picture of a coin that looks this nice, I wonder why it's not in a slab; you should too.

tradedollarnut

I have yet to see a fake that isn't readily deterimed when you hold it in your hand. Buy only from sellers with a return privilege and good feedback and learn what to look for in a real coin and you will be ok. Until then, don't buy except from reputable sellers.

Keyrock

Are most of the fakes clean or do they exist with chopmarks? Now that PCGS is certifying them with the chops I was wondering if they will start to increase in price. I know I have started looking around for some chopmarked trades. I would think that a fake with some chopmarks (In the right places) may make the coins harder to detect.

Rich

Merc

ANACS reported in January that half of the EF to AU trade dollars they received for grading were fake. The fakes were good enough to fool many dealers.