Remember this Trade Dollar?
AUandAG
Posts: 24,992 ✭✭✭✭✭
Just to refresh your memory I purchased this from China (I know better, no throwing stones) based on excellent pictures and
a seller with no feedback problems (100% positive) with the hopes that it was original and not a fake. Well, when I received
the coin it went on the scale and to the calipers. Underweight and oversized. Underweight by just a fraction but underweight
for sure. Certainly not within US mint tolerances.
Well, off to a friend, CaptHenway (Tom). He wanted the opportunity to view the coin in hand and I was more than happy to oblige.
He opted to have a 3rd party, PCGS, make the determination. Questionable Authenticity was the result.
Yes, I had said it was a fake and PCGS and Tom confirmed it. So, be aware, there are some that can fool and some fools that
will come to the party. Oh, I did get my money back and the seller did not get the coin back. It's being taken out of the collecting
world forever!
Now, for you non Trade Dollar experts, like me, study the pics. Look at the CC's (right on), look at the verdigris on the reverse (right on).
Some here pegged it right off, wheat sheaves are incomplete (I thought that it was due to a huge chop on the other side) and other small
tells. But, study, learn, buy and return! It's all part of the hobby and we all learn from our mistakes and will continue to make more,
just smaller I hope!
bob
a seller with no feedback problems (100% positive) with the hopes that it was original and not a fake. Well, when I received
the coin it went on the scale and to the calipers. Underweight and oversized. Underweight by just a fraction but underweight
for sure. Certainly not within US mint tolerances.
Well, off to a friend, CaptHenway (Tom). He wanted the opportunity to view the coin in hand and I was more than happy to oblige.
He opted to have a 3rd party, PCGS, make the determination. Questionable Authenticity was the result.
Yes, I had said it was a fake and PCGS and Tom confirmed it. So, be aware, there are some that can fool and some fools that
will come to the party. Oh, I did get my money back and the seller did not get the coin back. It's being taken out of the collecting
world forever!
Now, for you non Trade Dollar experts, like me, study the pics. Look at the CC's (right on), look at the verdigris on the reverse (right on).
Some here pegged it right off, wheat sheaves are incomplete (I thought that it was due to a huge chop on the other side) and other small
tells. But, study, learn, buy and return! It's all part of the hobby and we all learn from our mistakes and will continue to make more,
just smaller I hope!
bob
Registry: CC lowballs (boblindstrom), bobinvegas1989@yahoo.com
0
Comments
Good luck.
"Keep your malarkey filter in good operating order" -Walter Breen
PCGS Registries
Box of 20
SeaEagleCoins: 11/14/54-4/5/12. Miss you Larry!
<< <i>I don't collect Trade Dollars, but I have to admit that the chop marks would cause me to believe the coin authentic even though I also know Trade Dollars are commonly faked. >>
- Marcus Tullius Cicero, 106-43 BC
The picture showing the coin in the measuring calipers really makes it look fake,
more so than the other pictures.
I just picked up a trade dollar from a trusted source in portugal and it's 27.1 now Im suspicious, I gotta make sure to see the size and post a pic
In the first set of photos, what caught my eye were the rims (too narrow mostly, too wide in a spot) and the pupil in the eagle's eye just looks like a round dot-- it should be more of a crescent shape. I can't tell if I'm seeing a gap where the feather's at the back of the bird's neck meet the left "shoulder," if there is a gap that would be incorrect for a type 2 reverse.
Oh-- and thanks for posting the outcome on this one--
<< <i>How about this one, any observations?
What is the weight Kaz? Diameter? First thing first!
bob
PS: mine was a bit thin as well as oversized. I forget to put that in the original thread.
bob
<< <i>How about this one, any observations?
Yes, it's a fake. I bought it when I first started collecting Trade Dollars from a seller who always had a ready supply of "lightly chopmarked" examples. They were fairly decent replicas, the first one fooled me for a long time but by the time I bought the second one I had learned how to spot fakes. Got my money back and left warning feedback for others, which didn't stop him. Finally, repeated negs and threats of legal action from other buyers got him to stop. I suspect he had a source for these in China, because they all had a certain "look" to them and the chops were often strange looking.
I agree with TDN's comments-- be suspicious if the "chops" are light, small, or scattered in areas that don't impact the design too much.