Counterfeit Trade Dollars - I need Help

Bulldog · October 21, 2003 9:32AM

Direct from Hong Kong.

I need your expert help. What should I be looking for? What are the biggest tell tale signs of an obvious counterfeit?

Thanks in advance.

Bulldog

greghansen · October 21, 2003 9:32AM

What is the date and mint mark? I have some of the diagnostics for some dates/mint marks but not all.

mgoodm3 · October 21, 2003 9:32AM

It's raw.

Bulldog · October 21, 2003 9:41AM

Greg,

I do not have any of the coins in front of me. I have a cousin, bringing me a dozen Thursday evening. He thinks that they might be counterfeit as well. At any rate he wants to dump them. I want to try and be fair with the purchase, if they are purchasable.

Please don't anyone reply, "Stay away from them" or if "they are raw, they must be junk". Those type of responses do not answer the question.

I am looking for help, of what is the typical signs. I know how bad the Hong Kong dollars can be.

Thank you to everyone in advance!

Bulldog

Placid · October 21, 2003 9:47AM

Seams on the edges. Wrong reverse type for year. Denticles poorly done. Incorrect weight-diameter.

tradedollarnut · October 21, 2003 9:58AM

In addition to the above: poorly struck denticles and 'mushy' rims. Also, the last digit of the date being a slightly different size. One warning sign, although not a definitive diagnostic, is a missing period after 'fine'.

richbeat · October 21, 2003 10:05AM

I'll bump this ttt. Maybe tradedollarnut will see it, he should be able to help.

Placid · October 21, 2003 10:05AM

<< <i>I'll bump this ttt. Maybe tradedollarnut will see it, he should be able to help.

>>

Good idea.

richbeat · October 21, 2003 10:06AM

He beat me to it!!!

greghansen · October 21, 2003 10:26AM

If you have access to past CoinWorld issues, there was an article beginning on page two of the Oct 28,2002 edition regard to a large number of counterfeit trade dollars that were examined by ANACS. Most of them were 1873, 1874 or 1875 with either 'S' or 'CC' mintmarks. Some of the particular diagnostics for the individual dates/mintmarks were discussed.

greghansen · October 21, 2003 10:29AM

I hope this link works. I'm trying to link to the Coin World article in their news archive. I think that is a publicly available article. Here's the link:

Coin World Oct. 28, 2002 article on counterfeit Trade Dollars

Elcontador · October 21, 2003 10:41AM

Dog,

I saw many of these when I was in S.E. Asia, and bought the nicest one (also a fake), an 1875 CC. Some are done so poorly that you immediately know they are fake.

I took it to Long Beach and fooled most dealers (they thought it was geniune). It would have graded XF details but was all scratched up. The diameter & weight were about right, but the metal mixture was not. If you dropped the coin & let it 'ping' on a hard surface, it sounded differently than if you did the same thing with a badly circulated genuine T$.

dollardude · October 21, 2003 10:52AM

A dealer friend of mine taught me how to do this. She accepted several coins that she thought were legitimate seated liberty dollars. They looked real, but turned out to be fake. The toning looked funny, the finish was pitted, and the weight was wrong. You should weigh the coin and compare it to the official weight listed in the Red Book.

291fifth · October 21, 2003 11:08AM

<< <i>It's raw. >>

An outstanding and correct answer to the question!

Bulldog · October 22, 2003 1:51PM

Thanks to everyone that replied. I think that I have enough to work with. Greg, that link you gave me was very timely.

Once again, thanks to all!

Bulldog

Counterfeit Trade Dollars - I need Help

Comments

Leave a Comment