Mint Mark Removal

Another reason I ask this is I saw a 1901 morgan in AU 50-53 condition at a local dealers. He showed it to me and said he suspected that it used to be an O mint mark. I looked at it under a scope and honestly all I could see was a bright spot around where the mint mark should be....however this coin had those spots all around the coin. It appeared that it had been cleaned to me. I looked at it under 15x and there was no apparent problems other than the bright area. Which that was why the dealer suspected it. I told him I'd buy it off him for $25 for silver content in which he agreed. I figured I couldn't lose with that. Right now I have it setting outside in my truck getting some heat on it to tone the bright spots....perhaps with this toning it may bring out more flaws.....or I may find out that he may have been mistaken. But thinking about it would it make sense for someone to take the time to remove a mintmark on a coin that may be worth around $275. Especially to take the time to do it so well as there is really no evidence of removal.

I'm going to let it bake in the summer heat for a bit and see if that brings anything else out that may be more noticable. If I think about putting it in my morgan set to replace the junky one I have I'll definitely send it off. Right now my quandry is why would someone take the time to whipe an O off.....and do it really well to create a coin worth $225 more than an "o" mintmark. I'm thinking it would be easier just to create a copy. For now it will stay in my silver stack. I may take it to another dealer, the one I purchased it from doesn't have the best eyes, which makes this a little more interesting, picked up a nice 82 o/s from him that he labeled an 82-o ....also got an 1900 o/cc from him with similar circumstances.

I agree....as long as I question it I won't place it in a book. Still on the lookout for a good deal on an undergraded 1901

when we were kids we would do this to any coin we had in our pocket. had nothing to do with value it was just something to do, so there is really no value that corresponds to if this could have been done or not

good point. I guess I was more or less thinking about time management. You put all the effort in to making those items and then can bust out as many fakes as you want....as long as you took the time to make a decent copy.

Not really trying to hide anything.....just trying to dull out the bright spots on the coin. The best I could pull off with this coin is genuine due to cleaning/dipping. ANACS would probably be my option with this, I'd at least get a details grade if its real.

True if you go to all the trouble to acquire all the machinery to strike the fakes you can crank out a lot of them, but if you do that you would be better to fake a common date rather than a rare date such as the 1901-P. If large quantities of a rare date start showing up on the market people would start viewing them with suspicion and the fake would quickly be unmasked. But roll quantities of a slightly scarcer common date could be moved for some time without it being noticed. And if the counterfeiter is smart they would create multiple dates and keep switching them off.