Easy colonial question...

Cladiator

Are/were colonials commonly counterfeited for sale to the collector market? Specifically Washington colonial era coinage. I'm wondering how commonly counterfeits would be encounted when looking for these coins raw.

RYK

Yes, some contemporary counterfeits have become legitimate collectibles. I cannot speak for the Washingtonia, specifically.

TheRegulator

I doubt there were many collectors of these pieces when they were issued.

A colonial expert will probably chime in, but I wouldn't say that they are commonly counterfeited. One nice thing about early copper and colonials is that they have been collected and studied by die variety for generations. I would suspect that this would make modern-day conterfeiting a bit more difficult. Electrotypes may be more common than struck counterfeits.

Just some thoughts...

Pistareen

Is there a specific issue you were wondering about? It might be easier than running down the list of every Washington issue's relative availability as a 19th century struck copy, a modern numismatic counterfeit, an electrotype or cast, or a common souvenir copy that won't fool anyone.

The short answer to the OP is yes, but I'm not sure that helps you!

Cladiator

<< <i>Is there a specific issue you were wondering about? It might be easier than running down the list of every Washington issue's relative availability as a 19th century struck copy, a modern numismatic counterfeit, an electrotype or cast, or a common souvenir copy that won't fool anyone.

The short answer to the OP is yes, but I'm not sure that helps you! >>

Yeah the short answer helps, thanks. I'm just wondering how much of an issue I'm going to have looking for raw Washingtong colonial and post colonial era coinage on eBay and with assorted non specialist dealers here and there.