Counterfeit Detection: 1818 Capped Bust Quarter Counterfeits In TPG Holders

Jack Young - It is from the same group of counterfeiters that the Dark Side Group and I have been following since late 2015 and a cert series of 20+ different TPG (third-party grading service) submitted examples; as a member of Early American Coppers (EAC), I focused on the early copper first.

Ironically, I wrote an article on a "Family" of recent counterfeits based on the 1818 B-10 quarter. The counterfeits were made using a genuine 1818 example with various dates and were what I considered midlevel deceptive counterfeits-only the 1818 dated examples were deceptive but experienced collectors could identify them readily as fakes and none had been reported certified in genuine TPG holders. Until now!


Figure-1. Midlevel fake on left

The focus of this research is one I considered from a group of really deceptive fakes and examples HAVE been identified in TPG holders as genuine; they were coined from dies made from a genuine source coin, and, like the others we have documented, they should carry all of the marks and hits of the source. As with many of the counterfeits we've examined, the source example appears to have been damaged and repaired/tooled prior to the fake dies being made.

As I ALWAYS state, my first step in working to authenticate a suspect example is to ATTRIBUTE it. Had that been done by the TPGs, they may have noticed something was wrong other than a possible "cleaning"!

My first review example again came from my files and a known group of "suspect" specimens from the bad submitters:


TPG Submitted Example; cert now reads "Not Genuine" (Courtesy NGC)

And comparison to the closest variety match of 1818 HD, the B-10 on the right:


Genuine 1818 B-10 on the right courtesy PCGS CoinFacts

One key of the B-10 is the die scratch at the second star, but it is missing from the suspect example:



In fact, it looks like the stars and dentils were worked on, as well as the face:


Genuine example on the right.

I suspect the source example was damaged and in need of repairs but have not found images of it as of yet.

As the research hit its stride, I found other examples in various archives that I always search through - including this TPG-certified example sold by a major auction house back in 2016:


Certified Auction Example

A comparison with the first example shows many common marks:




A scratch from the rim through the 2 is the most prominent matching mark on the reverse. These two match so closely they may well be the same example; I am looking at the time frame between them to try to help determine that.

Continued searching found three other examples for comparison: another TPG-certified (cert now states "Contact Customer Service") and two raw ones listed by known bad internet sellers at the time.

The next certified example obverse comparison image on the right (low-resolution image):



And the two raw examples:



There are enough matching marks-including "Homer"-to know there are several counterfeits here.

But, as always, more research is required going forward!

Read More: Counterfeit Detection Series

Check out 1818 Capped Bust Quarters on ebay.