Counterfeit Early Commemorative (Grant)

Theres definitely a market for counterfit coins, I know quite a few people on here collect them as long as they know thats what theyre buying I dont see a problem with it. It is still counterfit though so the secret service may feel differently, 1 coin shouldnt be a big deal but probably dont want to be listing it all over ebay

A forum member, SteveCaruso, specializes in fakes. He may be interested in the coin, or at least pictures.

Thanks very much for the responses. Attached are some photos. I don't have very good lighting right now, so I can post some more tomorrow if necessary. The weight is showing as 0.4 oz or 11 grams.

Coming across counterfeits is always an interesting learning experience. At a local show last weekend, I had the opportunity to have a look at seven or eight counterfeit Oregon Trail Memorial half-dollars (all a different date and/or mintmark) along with three Texas coins. Though they didn't look quite right -- they all appeared somewhat proof-like and "modern" -- the way they were all confirmed to be fakes, however, was via their weight. As Not Mint to Be pointed out, the correct weight for a silver half-dollar is 12.5 grams, each of the coins I had a look at was approximately 11.8 grams -- well outside of US Mint Tolerances. Unfortunately, none of the coins was for sale so I can't show any pictures.

Nicholas Derevitzkay, a "dental mechanic" by trade, created his copies by first creating a plaster-of-paris mold of a genuine coin and then injecting silver into the mold via a pinhole under high pressure. This method filled in the mold completely and resulted in a coin that was underweight by just a reported 4 grains (0.259 grams) -- his coins were within 2% of the correct standard weight!

From contemporary accounts of Derevitzkay's arrest in the Syracuse American (January 6, 1935) and the American Numismatic Association's The Numismatist (February, 1935), it appears that Derevitzkay counterfeited (at least) the following half-dollars: 1915-S Panama-Pacific Exposition, the 1921 Alabama Centennial, the 1922 Missouri Centennial, the 1925 California , the 1926 Oregon Trail Memorial and the 1928 Captain Cook/Hawaiian Discovery. I did not find any mention of the 1922 Grant Memorial half-dollar.




Based on the weight you reported for your coin (11.0 grams), it would appear that your example is not a "Derevitzkay" -- his coins were over 12 grams and much closer to the correct standard weight.




I would suggest enjoying the ownership of such a novel piece and using it to educate other collectors. I would keep the TPG documentation with the coin and, should you ever choose to sell the piece, provide it to the purchaser.


Hope that helps!

Thank you for all of the feedback. I never cease to be amazed at the knowledge of the people in this community.

Attached are two more photos taken over the top with better lighting. I do not see designer initials. Also, as I look closely at the reverse some of the letters in E Pluribus Unim seem suspect.

To weigh the coin I used a postal scale that gives both ounces and grams. At work tomorrow I can use a better scale, but my guess is that it's lighter than 12 grams.

Fortunately for me this was not an expensive lesson, but it has been extremely valuable. In the past I assumed (wrongly) that classic commemoratives were not a focus of counterfeiters. I will be much more careful in the future.

Thanks to everyone for your comments and suggestions. For now I will keep it, but if I ever sell it I will include the PCGS label that designates it as questionable.

I wish it had only been $15. Let's just say it was on the lower end of the XF scale price-wise since Grant's head looked a little off. I now realize that it wasn't just a little off -- it was a lot off. My bigger disappointment is that I used one of my PCGS free club submission slots for it.

I'm just grateful that it wasn't a Grant with star that I paid an MS price for. That would have certainly led to a meeting with the dealer to discuss a buy-back. I'll probably just keep this one for education purposes and to remind myself to be more careful in the future. However, I'll mention it to the dealer so he also knows to be more careful.

In addition to the missing initials, the design under the chin is different.