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 Replies: 10 / Views: 2,234 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1796 Posts |
Just came in last week and she's magnificent. :-)   She'll be up on The Black Cabinet sooner or later, and now all I need is a 1900 Micro-O to complete my set. :-) |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
36800 Posts |
That one is very deceptive. Is it silver?
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
4411 Posts |
It would have fooled me  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1151 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
1796 Posts |
Aye, it's silver. The silver content for the Micro-O counterfeits actually range from 89-96% with the balance copper. They were struck with XF details and then artificially circulated to hide that fact. It took decades before they were detected by PCGS in the mid 2000s when someone submitted a bunch of 1896s, 1900s and 1902s in high grade, and they realized that all 3 dates shared the exact same reverse die. :-) However, despite this revelation, they're still listed as a Top 100 VAM (and on VAMworld they're politely referred to as "privately manufactured" rather than outright called counterfeit) and many sellers on ebay are asking pre-discovery prices ($100-$2,000) as they rely on outdated materials. This one I snagged on ebay. Edited by SteveCaruso
08/22/2012 12:01 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1151 Posts |
How much does one of these cost you?
I couldn't imagine too much
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1796 Posts |
Well, the trick is finding someone who's willing to sell them for what they're worth. I paid $40 for each specimen I own (this one and a 1902-o G I picked up at a show). Still a bit more than I wanted to spend.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5854 Posts |
Very neat acquisition! I would have gladly picked them up for $40 each. For those of you who are interested, there is a PCGS article that details a little bit of the history of these counterfeits as well as the diagnostics that condemned them. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3486 Posts |
NICELY DONE Steve!
Do you plan to compile your findings in a "How to identify" educational guide?
Sure would fool just about everyone.
You used the term "artificially circulated." Could you please explain how it is done?
Edited by matthewvincent
08/22/2012 2:06 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
Quote:
It took decades before they were detected by PCGS in the mid 2000s when someone submitted a bunch of 1896s, 1900s and 1902s in high grade, and they realized that all 3 dates shared the exact same reverse die. :-) ANACS and NGC both condemned them as fakes in 1998. It took PCGS 7 more years to come to the same conclusion. What is really interesting is that they were originally identified as counterfeits in the early 20th century. It was reported that counterfeits of various dates were in circulation and the main identifying feature was that they had a "lowercase O for the mintmark" |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1796 Posts |
@D0ubl3Eagle - Yep that's the article. :-) On this one, the dent next to the O is easily visible in direct light (not that you can see it through the glare on the case in the photo above) and the scratches next to the wing are there, too. @matthewvincent - Aye this gal is going to go up with her "sister" (i.e. my 1902 http://fakes.numismetrica.com/categ...o-o-morgans/) on The Black Cabinet when I get around to it. Once I get the identification key up for that section, I'll also have some much nicer shots of the markers. Since they were made with only XF details due to the die transfer process, once they were minted, they pretty much sewed them up in large burlap bags and kicked them around for a while and rubbed them until they looked a little worn. This effectively hid anything fishy about them. |
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Replies: 10 / Views: 2,234 |
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Posted 08/22/2012 10:04 am
