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my favorite coin possession
Whippersnapper
Posts: 113 ✭✭
Maybe the newest coin is always my favorite...but here is my Trade dollar from great Britain, mailed from Hong Kong before all this pandemic. I cannot tell if its been cleaned but I think it has been. Still, I love the design. 
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The surfaces look "off", can you take a better image?
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
Cleaned, or antiqued?
Check your focus before you post next images. Peace Roy
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"mailed from Hong Kong"
Sorry, I get messed up when trying to zoom.
No worries, it was quarenteened for over 3 days! Lol I'd be more scared to get something from new York in a day.
Not worried about a virus....... more about authenticity.
Edited to add: Much better photos!
Does it weigh the correct amount? What about its diameter? I believe these are commonly counterfeited coins. This one looks suspect to me, but I'm not an expert. The surfaces of the reverse look like a cast coin.
https://bishopricquid.com/
Oh gracious!
Cast?
Latin American Collection
Oh snap! It does weigh very close, I would say within tolerances of a used coin, if I remember right, like within 0.08 grams but I will recheck tonight. In fact there was a strange looking spot on it that made me think it was possibly plated and so I weighed it. I will check diameter tonight. I guess if its fake its good I only paid $16 for it.😕
"I guess if its fake its good I only paid $16 for it."
That is cheap tuition, you have gained more than $16 in education. Weight & diameter will be very close.
Ok, world coins book says it should weigh 26.96 grams. It weighs 26.80. It should be 39mm, it is 39.08mm one radius, and 39.05mm other radius. Thickness at the edges averages 2.80mm, I don't have a spec on that. I could check specific gravity if I new what 0.9000 time silver was at.
Up close good pic sh
owing the spot that appears chipped.
Close as I can get.
So, its fake? The background looks strange. It was advertised as uncirculated.
I'm no expert on these but it sure looks fake to me. As far as it being "uncirculated" ... not even close.
Ok, so I have proof now, the coin should be 3mm wide, its 2.8mm. Here is the real proof, the specific gravity for a 0.9000 silver coin I'm told is 10.31. After double testing mine, its 8.33. I've been hornswoggled! 😱
So I will ask for my money back from that ebay guy I guess. What would you do?
If you thought you were buying a real coin and it was not advertised as a replica, yes, I would ask for my money back.
Also, good on you for actually doing Specific Gravity.
8 Reales Madness Collection
Honestly, paying only $16 for it should have given you a clue it is fake.
DPOTD-3
'Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery'
CU #3245 B.N.A. #428
Don
SOMETIMES Trade Dollars can still be snagged cheap from those who've been under a rock for the past 7, 8 years... but otherwise, INDEED!
But seriously, Whippersnapper... you know about specific gravity and how to measure it, but you didn't recognize this piece as OBVIOUSLY fake?? For really real?!
Good News, he refunded all my money! Now I have a stupid fake coin, its no longer my favorite, but I do still like the design. Maybe I should try and think of something I could make and incorporate that coin into it. Any suggestions?
If that coin fooled you you need to put your wallet away and learn more about counterfeit detection before spending another cent on raw coins. For the moment, stick to coins slabbed by the major TPGs from sellers who are known to be reputable.
It's not so long ago that $16 was in the range of normal until all the Chinese collectors burst into the market!
I know British trade dollars circulated in China .
But when did the Chinese burst into the market of British trade dollars ?
I have not noticed much in pricing .
Are the the prices going up like what happened with cap & rays 8 reales 10 years ago ? That period was about a 2-3
year phenom.
I give away money. I collect money.
I don’t love money . I do love the Lord God.
Ridiculing and making assumptions may not be the best way to give advice. I do appreciate all people willing to give advice, no matter their intent. I do my best to learn and adapt, and become better. I think you were more upset that I was taken advantage of more than I was! Thanks for your time and response. And no, I can't tell a fake coin from a picture on E-bay from a real coin, especially of one that I have never seen in person before. But that was part of my learning process in this situation.
It was an auction that I won, just like the stories you hear in this forum about people who got a great deal on a nice coin. So no, it was not a clue in my opinion.
Hard to pin point it. I would say from experience the run on the Cap and Rays 8 Reales started around 2004. My evidence was the 1st day of the ANA show in Pittsburgh. I had 80 or 100 I was selling from my personal collection...quite a few better grades and dates as well. A Chinese buyer came up and asked how much the Eight Reales were. I said they are different prices depending on the date and grade. He replied..."How Much for all of them?". I added them up, quoted him, he paid me and walked away what appeared to be very happy!
Prior to that I have sold many British Trade dollars in the $20-$30 range. Perhaps that is why I haven't seen many since...pretty much the same time frame as my 8 Reales story .