Zurie's 2000th Post Contest -- Counterfeit Detection!

2 and 5 real, rest fake

Here are the answers to the challenge:

1. 1876-S Trade dollar: Genuine, PCGS #03897344.

2. 1840 Large cent: Counterfeit. Crude date, large letters on reverse not used until 1843, and the rim defect on the reverse is from a known counterfeit die.


3. 1900-S Half Eagle: Known Middle Eastern counterfeit with loss of detail in the hair and stars, somewhat misshapen stars, and a mintmark that is too small. Reverse letters have rounded surfaces. This coin would have fooled me, which is why I would never buy a raw classic gold coin.
https://www.NGCcoin.com/news/articl...-Half-Eagle/

4. 1893-O Morgan: Counterfeit, as noted previously.

5. 1911-P $2-1/2 Gold Indian: Genuine PCGS #34941837.

6. 1909-S-VDB: Counterfeit. The location of the mint mark looks good for position #3, but the VDB is incorrect. The dot after the D is too close to the D, and the V is too tall.


7. 1937-D Buffalo nickel 3-legged: Genuine, diagnostics include roughness at the back of the neck on the obverse, and on the reverse, die lumps running vertically between the legs, a mottled appearance of the back leg, and PLURIBUS and UNUM are separated from the back of the buffalo.




8. 1942/41 Mercury dime: Counterfeit, likely struck from a fake die made from a genuine piece. The underlying "1" in the date is too weak, and the words IGWT are also weak. In addition, the olive leaves on the reverse are too plump, without enough detail.

Hope this was challenging and a bit educational! Thanks again for playing!

Thank you! It was fun, the large cent also had the wrong number of berries.

Great contest, I learned I can't tell counterfeits.

Glad you enjoyed it. I also learned quite a bit putting this contest together. Made me realize how hard it can be to tell a well-made counterfeit from pictures alone.

Great contest . Informs us all on the perils of counterfeit coins .

Thanks for the quiz Zurie. Quite informative.
In Oz the alignment of letters with rim denticles is a useful way of detecting fake pennies. I thought the 1876 Trade dollar was a fake because the alignment of the last a in America was different to the one you posted. Were 2 different dies used or is this variation normal in trade tokens from that period?

Thanks Zurie.