How Bad Does The Scratch Detract ?

There should be a clear distinction made between a numismatic fake and a contemporary counterfeit, this coin would fall into the latter category. A contemporary counterfeit is meant to circulate simultaneously with genuine coins of the same type. As a result, these counterfeits are also subject to circulation attrition just like genuine coins and that tends to make them quite rare in most cases since there are almost always many more genuine examples in existence than contemporary counterfeits.

The most prevalent example of contemporary counterfeits would probably be the Micro O Morgans. For many years, they were all thought to be genuine mint products and were slabbed by TPGs. Several dates of the Micro Os were finally debunked just a few years ago. At the time they were created, the silver value of a dollar was only 50-60 cents so there was a large profit margin even for full silver content counterfeits. Another example is the famed Henning nickels of the 1940s which can sell for upwards of $100 nowadays.



100+ years of circulation and environmental exposure is much more difficult to replicate than you might think. The vast majority of reasonably convincing modern fakes are high grade circulated to uncirculated, not rough and ugly low grade examples- especially when dealing with a coin that should otherwise be common as dirt

LOL at merc ... this thread was not an attempt to fool anyone, more of an attempt to teach

Cool, I've learned a lot from this thread. didn't know there were different kinds of counterfeits. So I guess henning nickels would also be labeled as contemporary counterfeits. And they are worth several times more than the regular mint made nickels. Interesting.

[Deleted to do posting on wrong thread.]