How would you spot a counterfieit gold piece if.....

sliderider

Someone actually went to the expense of making it out of real gold of the same quality used by the mint??

relayer

Weight is just one consideration for detecting a counterfiet. And there are many that are made out of real gold.

darktone

the color- after you seen a couple of those "middle east" counterfiets you could spot one five feet away. The surface texture- lumps, tooling marks, grainy appearence, strange luster, crumbling devices at the outer edges, die crack like marks from the spark erosion process, uncrisp devices and so on. mike

nwcs

A number of ways. Usually by evaluating it against a real one looking for well known countefeiting techniques. A good video on this is the ANA video on counterfeit detection.

RotatedRainbows

High grade pieces will not have any real luster especially in protected areas of high grade circ coins, many times they will have an orange peel like appearance or a goose bump like look when examined under power.

darktone

<< <i>High grade pieces will not have any real luster especially in protected areas >>

Many will have good luster. I hope Jom posts a picture of that $2 1/2 indian. mike

manlye1

Casting lines around the reedes, grainy surfaces are some.

earlwbollinger

Well. . . I think that . . .
The color isn't quite right. They seldom put in that much gold that's a "big why" on making a fake. Thus the copper, silver, tin, zinc, and other impurities will have the color slightly off. Comparing to a real like gold coin usually shows up the difference.
Next the dies they make have errors that one can home in on. Some pieces are more like fantasy pieces, they never existed nor did the mint actually make them.
The Lebanese probably came closer to making really good looking pieces than anyone else. I suspect the pieces they made were probably intended for jewery and not intended to be sold as coins. But unscrupulous buyers took advantage of that, plus people who inherited them likely thought they were real too. You see it all the time with the unethical dealers trying to make a big score and rip someone off.

ScarsdaleCoin

FYI ...I own a very interesting set that is used for bullion ...it is called a FISCH Instrument...basically
The Fisch works. A coin either passes all four checks of weight, diameter, thickness and shape or it is rejected. No if's, but's or maybe's. No room for error. The Fisch checks a coin in seconds. Anywhere. Anytime. THE Fisch CANNOT MAKE A MISTAKE

It is impossible to make a common metal fake that is identical to a genuine gold coin in both weight and size. Because of the density of gold, a common metal fake will either be the correct weight, but too big, or the correct size, but too light. The Fisch can't make a mistake however when you say fake using real gold...well that would pass the Fisch...but since the Fisch is for bullion products guess it would not make a difference....

PS: you would not believe how many fakes we see that people try to pass us...

Conder101

The gold counerfeits that came out of Lebanon in the 1960's did contain the proper weight and fineness of gold. They are the proper size, thickness and Specific Gravity. They are identified by die characteristics.

dorkkarl

correct, the simple answer is "die characteristics".

K S