Contemporary Counterfeits

rkp · October 3, 2013 3:01PM

I don't get it. Why do people collect these? They are of inferior quality when compared to the real thing. They are generally made of a base metal, not silver. Sure they circulated (illegally) alongside the real thing and may be rare, but at the end of the day, they are fakes. What am I missing?

Thanks,
Rkp

dcarr · October 3, 2013 7:56PM

<< <i>I don't get it. Why do people collect these? They are of inferior quality when compared to the real thing. They are generally made of a base metal, not silver. Sure they circulated (illegally) alongside the real thing and may be rare, but at the end of the day, they are fakes. What am I missing?

Thanks,
Rkp >>

>>> What am I missing ?

Perhaps the history that goes along with it ?

I'm fascinated by the vintage Morgan dollar fakes that were made in the 1910-1920 time period (in my opinion).
They were die-struck of fairly high quality and they contained the proper amount of silver.
Somebody made and spent perhaps as many as 250,000 of them.
And the crime wasn't even detected by numismatists until 2005.

SaorAlba · October 3, 2013 8:28PM

How about the Henning nickels - the guy that made them probably spent more money making them than he made - but he did make them for several years before finally getting caught.

harveypb · October 4, 2013 11:38AM

Counterfeit Bust Half Dollars are VERY collectible. Many were made from hand cut dies. Some pieces are
very deceptive while others are really comical and crude. You wonder how some of them actually circulated...

MrEureka · October 4, 2013 11:55AM

The contemporary fakes tell a story in the same way that the real things do.

lkeigwin · October 4, 2013 12:05PM

Here's a really cool trial strike of contemporary counterfeit dies.
Lance.

SaorAlba · October 4, 2013 12:07PM

I have a story from nearly 100 years ago about a counterfeiting charge - but I only share the story with select family members. Let us just say I have a valid reason to collect them from that particular era.

KollectorKing · October 4, 2013 12:18PM

A dealer at the 2012 Buena Park, CA coin show was tossing these out on the side walk/parking lot, so I picked a couple up since they were free, and

they're a conversation piece:

coinsarefun · October 4, 2013 12:25PM

<< <i>Here's a really cool trial strike of contemporary counterfeit dies.
Lance.

>>

I always love seeing this Lance

STONE · October 4, 2013 1:44PM

<< <i>Here's a really cool trial strike of contemporary counterfeit dies.
Lance.

>>

I think I own/used to own an actual contemporary counterfeit of this die marriage

Contemporary Counterfeits

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