How To Fake a 1916-D Mercury Dime

giorgio11

So this weekend I buy a big old-time collection, most of the coins the guy put away back in the mid-60s when silver went out of circulation. A lot of nice pieces, lots of silver, proof sets, mostly complete collections, good stuff. One of the unusual ones was a circulated 1916-D dime in one of those thick, white, square Capital plastic holders with the little screw-in plastic knobs on each corner. I glance at the coin, it's typical 16-D quality, AG3 with a pretty good scrape through the obverse legend, I would net it FR-2 and call it a day. But I look at the mintmark and it looks a little off, I just make a mental note and come back to it today. Position 1-nope. Position 2-nope. Position 3-nope. Position-4. Nope. Hmmm, what's going on with this? Maybe it's an embossed mintmark. I unscrew the posts and take the clear plastic layer off. Can you guess the punchline ?

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Out pops a 1916 Philadelphia Mercury dime. But wait, there's more! A 1917-D dime is still in the holder, with its reverse showing.

keyman64

He probably bought it in that holder and had no idea.

PerryHall

As soon as I saw "Capital plastic holders", I knew what was coming. This was not a rare occurrence back when these holders were popular.

InternetJunky

<< <i>As soon as I saw "Capital plastic holders", I knew what was coming. This was not a rare occurrence back when these holders were popular. >>



Agree. I wasn't one bit shocked by the story. Though unfortunate for both parties since like keyman said I doubt the seller knew he was duped. Now what would have really shocked me is if you took apart the holder and found (2) 16-D's

giorgio11

Actually, I am OK since I am getting the offer together still. (I should have written "am buying" rather than "bought.") And my friend, who is as honest as the day is long, probably paid 50 bucks for it max, 30-40 years ago. With all of his silver he is going to be fine. And hey, it's still worth six bucks plus the holder!

DorkGirl

Great story.

ricko

Another lesson for buyers.... Now, think about it, with counterfeit plastic out there, how difficult would it be to do the same thing with a fake TPG holder? Caveat emptor... Cheers, RickO

giorgio11

How twue, how vewy vewy twue

johnny9434

amazing story. ya never know

MsMorrisine

<< <i>Another lesson for buyers.... Now, think about it, with counterfeit plastic out there, how difficult would it be to do the same thing with a fake TPG holder? Caveat emptor... Cheers, RickO >>



I think ManOfCoins got burned by one.

And someone else got hit with a 16D sandwich job recently. It was in a fake PCGS holder with a fake label.

Zoins

<< <i>Great story. >>

yellowjacket

Great post! One should always assume such coins are counterfeit until proven genuine.

Garrow

holeinone1972

<< <i>Great post! One should always assume such coins are counterfeit until proven genuine.

Garrow >>



Correct like buying them in a PCGS holder, as long as you can detect fake PCGS holders.

giorgio11

Knowledge is King in numismatics, like any other endeavor. Particularly for key coins, there is a nifty little booklet that I always take to shows, Bill Fivaz's Counterfeit Detection Guide. It has a lot of closeups of the diagnostics of various 19th- and 20th-century key coins; only genuine specimens are photographed. 1856, 1877, 1909-S VDB, 1914-D, 1922 Plain, 1931-S, 1943 copper, 1955 Doubled Die cents; 1916 DDO, 1918/7-D nickels; and many more. I have had the book for close to a decade and constantly add notes and die markers that I notice myself.

It helps, of course, to have a good "visual memory," which in my case I have had to stimulate since I am more a word person than a photo person. But I use mnemonics to help, e.g. that there are four known mintmark positions each for the S VDB and the 1916-D dimes. And of course I have other references too, but this little book has saved me a lot of money! Thanks and a Big Shout Out to Bill Fivaz!

yellowjacket

For detecting authentic 16-Ds, do the flip test. All genuine products have a reverse that is rotated 1-3 degrees. This is a good place to start.

Garrow

PerryHall

<< <i>For detecting authentic 16-Ds, do the flip test. All genuine products have a reverse that is rotated 1-3 degrees. This is a good place to start.

Garrow >>



Can you even see 1 degree of rotation?

joecopper

Interesting story.