Patrick The 1836 with what you call "road rash" is in all probability a real coin struck weakly on a poor quality planchet.
The 1834 with the "smooth" edge is definitely NOT a counterfeit it is a damaged original.
Because counterfeit coins are getting a bit more popular you need to be sure a coin is really counterfeit before accepting the seller's opinion. Most sellers are incapable of telling for sure. I trust fewer than 50 sellers on
ebay to really know. On
ebay you also have to be prepared to be wrong in some cases when you "believe" a coin is a fake.
I once bought an "obvious" cast forgery on
ebay - very bumpy surface - all the hallmarks in photographic form of a counterfeit. But in person it was an original that had been coated with a black sticky tar like substance which was then covered in fine sand and Spray PAINTED silver. Very very bad mistake but I kept it as an object lesson.
I have also bought a couple coins which had to be forgeries because the year, date and assayer initials were in an impossible combination. That is obviously a fake - RIGHT? But in three cases, it has turned out to be an altered original. Most recently, I won a beautiful "counterfeit" portrait 8R for $120. I received a coin in which the last digit of the date - a 4 - was cut down to a 1. It was a "fraud" but one based on alteration not forgery. It was also a misrepresentation because the fraud was very obvious in person but not on the photos.
In that case, I used buyer protection and made a claim based on a misrepresentation and
ebay found in my favor. As an altered original the coin is worth just a couple dollars over melt.
I have also noted a disturbing new trend by the counterfeiters who are at work today. They are starting to make "counterfeits" of counterfeits. Remember as you look for counterfeits not all forgeries are of equal historic value. A forgery made last week is not rare (others could be in production) and so it should be treated as an intrinsic item. I value modern forgeries at $15 over melt tops.
I just bought an interesting example of a Portrait 8R which may in fact be a modern counterfeit - trying to look like an early counterfeit. Here is the auction link.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/330702182639 In this case there are many clues to forgery - Wrong mint mark for the design type (the Portrait is Bolivian or Peruvian NOT Mexican) but the coin has has an Mo mint mark. The reason I would spend $100 on what might be a Modern fake is the dentils which are applied OVER the letters on the shield side. I saw this coin and initially decided to pass - too expensive for a modern fake. But then my curiosity got the better of me.
In this case, unlike the 1801 above - I would never return this coin because I am going in eyes open.
So I am saying be careful - you can never be absolutely sure from a picture alone.
I could be wrong about the 1836 above because I am only looking at a photo - but I have bought one that looked a lot like that that and it ended up being real.
If anyone is interested in buying counterfeits on
ebay and wants a free second opinion BEFORE bidding - please write to me. The same applies to people looking to bid only on real coins. I may not be right but in 10 years I have only been fooled 10 or so times on coins I won on
ebay.
Posted 03/16/2012 2:05 pm
I'm still studying and will hopefully avoid any major problems.
