The Official "Counterfeit/Altered Coin" Thread

StopMotion

Post your Counterfeit or Altered U.S. Coins here along with your comments!

To see more Counterfeit/Altered coins and currency please visit The Numismatic Enquirer, a counterfeit detection website.
Harrison (Stop Motion)
The Numismatic Enquirer

StopMotion

Here's a new purchase to get things rolling...

1950 Ctft Washington Quarter

Genuine Weight = 6.25 grams VS Counterfeit Weight = 4.70 grams.

StopMotion

Genuine Weight = 12.5 grams - Counterfeit Weight = 9.6 grams.


Genuine Weight = 2.5 grams - Counterfeit Weight = 2.5 grams.


Genuine Weight = 6.3 grams vs Counterfeit Weight = 4.6 grams.


Genuine Weight = 5.0 grams vs counterfeit Weight = 4.7 grams.



Genuine Weight = 2.5 grams vs Counterfeit Weight = 2.3 grams.



Genuine Weight = 5.0 grams vs counterfeit Weight = 5.0 grams.

PerryHall

If you want to see counterfeits, check out any coins on eBay being sold by sellers from China.

ldhair

Removed mint mark. What a waste.

Cast copy.

Poor copy.

stev32k

Here's a few from my collection. Since I wanted to collect Trade Dollars I thought it might be a good idea to learn to tell counterfeits from the real thing. So about two years ago I started buying counterfeit dollars - mostly trade dollars, but also seated and morgans. At least count I had a little over 200 of them.

lordmarcovan

Here's a pretty convincing fake 1923-D (-S?) Peace dollar I bought in a lot, earlier this year.

In fact, some forum members disagreed with me that it was a fake at all.

The "tell" for me was this strange seamlike line along the edge. It doesn't look like a casting seam, but it's weird. The coin was a few grams underweight and had some raised metal between the numerals on the date (which look like digs in my scan).

Broadstruck

This could be a daily thread if all the Ebay raw coins where added... especially the homemade errors!

Cladiator

Altered date...

StopMotion

AUandAG

2 out of 3 are bad.
bob
comments are: waste of talent and time.

AUandAG

Then the famous altered date, which fooled me back in the 50's. I believe I was 11 at the time.
It was in a penny collection I've had tucked away for over 50 years and just drug it out to take
a gander. I was missing only the 09svdb but now am also missing the 14d.
This was a 44d previously.
bob

Russ

Correct weight, 90% silver, even has the correct edge lettering. Direct from China.

Russ, NCNE

StopMotion

Thanks AUandAG and Russ!
Harrison
Stop Motion

cmerlo1

1916-S Buffalo...if you compare the buffalo's belly to one on a genuine coin, you'll see that the fake one looks like he's been on a diet! The counterfeiter made other dates from this reverse die...it's listed in Ron Pope's abraded dies book...

StopMotion

ttt

jdillane

<< <i>


Correct weight, 90% silver, even has the correct edge lettering. Direct from China.

Russ, NCNE >>



Is that one of the $59 versions currently available on the bay?

I have one but incorrect weight and do not think it is silver, either.

MrSpud

Here's a paper one that fooled me for a minute

mojoman

1921s Buffalo acid etched date



1873 cc trade dollar

Russ

<< <i>Is that one of the $59 versions currently available on the bay? >>



It might be. I picked it up for $49 from this seller:

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZtianguxiaopuQQfrppZ50QQfsopZ1QQfsooZ1QQrdZ0

In his auction pic it said "replica" across the obverse, but that was photoshopped in. About 10 minutes after I paid for it, eBay nuked the auction. Seller shipped anyway, and shipped very quickly.

Russ, NCNE

bstat1020

1876 CC Counterfeit

StopMotion

bump

Whatafind

Are any of those coins sand casted?

StopMotion

Any new ones?
SM

coinsarefun

I call this group "The Pretenders"
The Trade dollars are cast and off on the weight.
The Peace is oven baked(AT)
The Statue of Liberty, I have no idea what they
were thinking
Cast, not even close to weight and just awful.

Hey, but nice composition huh?

StopMotion

bump

TwoKopeiki

Sheffield plate over copper core that circulated extensively on the Orient:

wayneme

Not real sure how to post photo's so bare with me
a 1873 2 1/2 dollar gold

wayneme

fc

stopmotion,

i see the recent 1950D wash quarter you recently aquired but
do you have new pics of the other 3 you picked up?

i checked your website and still no update!

savoyspecial

kicking this old thread up to see if anyone has anything to contribute.......at the last show i attended i passed on a nice altered date 1856 Flying Eagle cent that i really wish i had picked up......the alteration was an older one

RBinTex

We need to merge all the counterfeit threads.

fruitloops

These coins are all counterfeits.



http://i34.tinypic.com/el5xg0.jpg
http://i35.tinypic.com/24euerl.jpg
http://i38.tinypic.com/2uh67w5.jpg
http://i35.tinypic.com/124bms6.jpg
http://i35.tinypic.com/2z3ytlv.jpg
http://i36.tinypic.com/21b28tf.jpg
http://i36.tinypic.com/9hswhk.jpg
http://i34.tinypic.com/2gvswlu.jpg

CMAN

I am new at collecting coins. These coins look so genuine, it's hard to differentiate.
I am wondering how you all ended up have these counterfeit coins. Was it all from con seller or they are also collectible.
-CMAN

fruitloops

<< <i>I am new at collecting coins. These coins look so genuine, it's hard to differentiate.
I am wondering how you all ended up have these counterfeit coins. Was it all from con seller or they are also collectible.
-CMAN >>



They aren't mine, I found them from a person on another forum, who works at a coin shop and made a post about people bringing in counterfeit gold into his shop. They were all melted down. Like 7 out of them all were counterfeit. These were in an old collection, so they were older counterfeits. They are pretty good. The current guess right now is that they are all cast counterfeits, not transfer die struck pieces. There was also a saint and an indian, I'll post those too. There are lumps of metal throughout the coin (from the casting), and a few depressions, appears to be a depressed line as well on some of the letters of the coin. Toolmarks in the neck of one..you can see if you look closely. One of them looks like the color is a bit off as well. And one of them has weakness in the headress. They are pretty good counterfeits.

Here are the others, in the saint the stars are wrong, there is tool marks in the rays of the sun, and spikes from the letters.
On the $10 indian, there appear to be toolmarks in the letters on the reverse, and the surfaces are PL. I've noticed alot of counterfeit 10 dollar pieces (indian) are PL, perhaps from a new die? Although this wouldn't make sense if it was cast.





http://i36.tinypic.com/10e3u34.jpg
http://i38.tinypic.com/x5cj7m.jpg
http://i38.tinypic.com/x5cj7m.jpg
http://i38.tinypic.com/orkpb7.jpg
http://i35.tinypic.com/9k43ub.jpg

ldhair

Could you make those images a bit larger. 1600X is way too small to see much.

fruitloops

<< <i>Could you make those images a bit larger. 1600X is way too small to see much. >>



Sorry, I know they were a bit big. Not sure how to resize them..I edited them out and just put the links to them.

3sidesofsilver

Do any forum members have pictures of altered or tooled 1894 Morgans, specifically those with removed S or O mintmarks? I am looking at one that I suspect may be, but I have no reference as to what to look for in the mint mark area of the coin to confirm. Thanks for any assistance!

--Craig

BillJones

The 1804 C-5 half cent was recently sold at the annual Early American Coppers Club auction. The auction lot description says it all. If this coin had not been altered to the non existent half cent date, 1801, this would have been a condition census piece for the variety, and would have been worth a few thousand dollars. Here is an example of what a numismatic dumb donkey can do.