How To Tell If A Coin Is Fake?

Depends on the coin but anything from size/weight, anything being out of place, detail being wrong, wrong letter style/size. The list is pretty endless as people from everywhere will try to make them. Some will be horrible and others may be so good that even TPGs could be fooled by them. Theres been cases in the past of a number of gold coins that were thought to be real for the longest time till someone figured out the faker had hid their signature in the design

Big bucks. I saw it on a coin special on the smithsonian channel. They pretty much only caught it because of the influx of numbers of such a rare coin. He got greedy. But last I heard they still have no idea who was doing it

I wouldn't worry about it.

I'm pretty sure no one fakes 1964 Halves.

OK a 1964 half has no significant numismatic premium so the only real reason for faking one would be to profit by shorting the silver content.

First thing to check is the weight. Silver coins have a tight Weight Tolerance.

If the weight is correct check diameter. (A short alloy would be light but can be adjusted for by increasing diameter or thickness. You can't really measure the thickness of a struck coin but you can check diameter.

If weight and diameter check out then a specific gravity test would be next. If a 1964 half passes all of these it is almost certainly real.

A good jeweler can check the weight and specific gravity, and possibly diameter. But be careful they will typically test for silver with a destructive acid test. that will result in damage even if slight, to your coin. So you have to make sure they don't do that.

Not to hijack this topic, But I think it may be better to ask about 1 ounce coins, like Philharmonic silver coins etc. I would be more concerned about buying counterfeited versions of them.

Most jewellers are just jewellers and not numismatists... though some will have basic knowledge of coins really it isn't their field and they won't really be interested or care in the most part.

As for the one ounce coins if they are silver then in general they would be too costly to be worth faking in real silver. So if they look OK and the pass the tissue test then they will most likely be real if they are not any super rare variation or date.

I thought that tissue test would automatically link but it is to do with the appearance of the coin under tissue paper, silver will appear white and base metals will appear black.