Fake Trade Dollars That Look Real

A "bad die marriage" is a fake coin made from two different die types that were never originally paired together by the US Mint. The obverse (front) of the coin is made with one die and the reverse is made with a different die.

In modern coinage, dies are relatively uniform in design. In the earlier days of the Mint, that wasnt necessarily the case. When a new die was made, sometime subtle alterations or changes were made. The slight changes distinguished the new dies from older dies.

The coin in that ebay link is a struck Trade dollar made with forgery dies. That particular die marriage is not supposed to exist on a real Trade dollar. Most fake Trade dollars are cast, not struck. Cast counterfeits are usually easy to spot to a trained eye but struck counterfeits are much more deceptive. When dealing with a struck counterfeit, the best way to authenticate it is by die marriage.

I cannot tell that the die marriage is bad but what tipped me off to that coin being a fake is the fact that the appearance is pristine and the seller is trying to get $1000 for it but it is a raw coin. A seller trying to get the real value would have a coin like that authenticated and slabbed by an independent third party grading service.

There are many grading services out there. Most collectors only trust the top three, which are PCGS, NGC, and ANACS. PCGS and NGC require a dealer to submit to, unless you want to pay $100 to join ther collectors clubs. ANACS can be submitted to by anybody. Their economy service is around $12, and their 10-day service is $15ish. Keep in mind that there are certain limits for the values of the coins you submit for each tier of service.
www.pcgs.com
www.ngccoin.com
www.anacs.com