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 Replies: 16 / Views: 8,245 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5854 Posts |
I don't know if they caught the counterfeiter. While well made, I know with the high relief St. Gaudens it is possible to detect them even if they didn't have the omega symbol. There are depressions and tools marks on these coins.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1796 Posts |
Aye, they were never caught. It's one of the great counterfeiting mysteries.
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Moderator
 Australia
16868 Posts |
I suspect he put the marks there for purely pragmatic, personal reasons. For example, if he went shopping for coins and saw one of his marked coins for sale, he'd know not to buy it.
But we don;t really know. Since they were never caught, we can't ask them. Omega counterfeits surfaced in the 1970s. It's entirely likely that, whoever Omega really was, they're dead by now, and have taken their secrets to the grave.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Pillar of the Community
United States
9796 Posts |
 Sure would be an interesting story, fit for a book, if the truth ever became known. The ANA has a couple omegas they are pretty dang amazing looking coins. "Buy the Book Before You Buy the Coin" - Aaron R. Feldman - "And read it" - Me 2013! ANA Life Member #3288 in good standing since 1981, ANS, Early American Coppers Member (EAC), Colonial Coin Collectors Club member (C4), Conder Token Collector Club member (CTCC), Civil War Token Society (CWTS) member, Liberty Seated Collectors Club (LSCC) & Numismatic Bibliomania Society member (NBS), USMex, Member in good standing, 2¢ variety collector. See my want page: http://goccf.com/t/140440 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
624 Posts |
Has a secondary market for the Omega coins been created? Sometimes great fakes that can be identified create a secondary market that can be quite popular (especially if ownership is illegal).
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1812 Posts |
Quote:
Has a secondary market for the Omega coins been created? Sometimes great fakes that can be identified create a secondary market that can be quite popular (especially if ownership is illegal). Yesterday while cleaning out my shed, I came across a old VHS Tape that I recorded back around October 2001. The show was "Secrets of the U.S.Mint" that aired on the Discovery Chanel. Last night I recorded the section on the Counterfeit Omega 1907 H/R Double Eagle and hope to post it on youtube, then share the link here. As for value, collectors were paying around $800.00 each, keeping in mind gold spot was around $375.00 back then. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1812 Posts |
I just uploaded the section on NGC examining the 1907 High Relief Omega counterfeit on youtube. Please excuse the audio as this was recorded on my television screen from a 2001 VHS self recorded video. The gold spot price back then was around $375 a ounce. I posted this video as "Unlisted" due to any copyright issues that may arise, and the only access is with the direct link (below). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-f8_6hG7H0 |
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Valued Member
United States
51 Posts |
A very interesting video! Thanks for sharing it with us.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
8904 Posts |
Very good! Thanks for posting!  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5212 Posts |
Shouldn't the graders be wearing gloves and using something more than a pocket magnifier to grade such an expensive coin? I guess it was staged for television but come on now.
I think for high dollar coins they should do like they do in Olympic judging: throw out the highest and the lowest scores and go from there.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1195 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
624 Posts |
Fantastic video... Great find. Thanks for posting it. Now I want one of those Omega St Gaudens coins....
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2150 Posts |
No the don't us gloves or very high magnification when grading coins.
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Valued Member
United States
243 Posts |
Thanks for youtube link broken-coin.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
14454 Posts |
I love this story and I have followed/watched/read everything produced about the "Omega Man". It is thought that the coins were probably minted no later than the mid 60's and probably closer to late 60's or early 70's since it was early 70's when the ANACS finally realized there was something going on when they had a large number of High Relief St Gaudens coins crossing their desk and on the market. His counterfeits can sell for quite a bit considering they are counterfeit if you can find them for sale anywhere (I haven't heard of one being for sale "knowingly" in the past 5 years), most people that do have them keep them for their mystique I believe. I actually went looking for one a couple years ago but always came up empty when I was searching. I had a few dealer friends looking also for me and they also came up empty handed. I am not sure how many he minted (Believed to be in the 20,000 range) but they are very well done and it would take someone knowing what they were looking at or an expert of the series to suspect something wrong with the coins. There are certain marks in the rays that all the coins exhibit that if you know what to look for would be a dead giveaway. I have never seen any of the $3 gold coins with an omega symbol in the loop of the R in LIBERTY that they say he made also but would love to at least see pictures of one of them, I have never even seen pictures of the 1913-P or 1926-P $10.00 Gold coins he made either
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Replies: 16 / Views: 8,245 |
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Posted 04/06/2013 4:09 pm
