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 Replies: 33 / Views: 4,298 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1227 Posts |
Exactly what it says on the label. Today someone came in and paid for gas with $31 in antique silver, and my boss likes what she calls "funny money," so she yanked those puppies from the drawer (which she was running) faster than you can say "should this be slabbed?" So, most of these I recognised: Peace dollars, Morgan dollars, two Trade dollars, and what I'm pretty sure is called the "flowing hair bust," the one being minted in the 1800s-the-decade. But there were two in there that I've never seen before, and when I first picked one up the first words out of my mouth were "Yalanda, I hate to tell you this, but I think this is fake. Look. There's not even a date." BUT, although it felt light at first, I picked up one of the pretty-sure-it's-genuine Morgans and compared them for weight, and they felt the same. Repeated the test with a Peace dollar (since I own one of these and KNOW how much it should feel like), and got the same result. Then I flipped both of these "fakes" (?) over, and got the surprise of my life! Pictures are currently downloading from my phone to my computer and will be available in a couple of minutes. I have a "grandpa phone" (it's as basic as you can buy in 2012) and so these are not the most amazing pictures, but hopefully they're clear enough for someone to at least know what they are. I showed my boss the forum, and she may be joining us later, so with luck we will have better pictures. ETA: After responses suggesting I actually dodged a bullet with most if not all of these being fake, I don't feel like raging anymore (except at the jerk who pulled this on my boss, who's wonderful). But let's have a  for the fact that someone would be this cruel, shall we?      The picture with three coins has a regular Morgan in the middle, and the two "mystery" coins on top and bottom. Other pictures are all of these mystery coins, which are in medal orientation. Both feature the same die crack, a very prominent one that slashes right through two of the stars (it's visible in what should be the second-to-last photo). I repeat: what the heck ARE these? Edited by ninamason
11/26/2012 8:39 pm
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Moderator
 United States
23522 Posts |
Disregard the weight. Take a Quiet Moment.  I assure you, the popular opinion to come when your pics appear will involve deciding that your boss just gave away some gas. Maybe not all of it, but at least some of it. |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
1227 Posts |
Well, even if these are fake coin-wise, I'm pretty sure they're real silver (they have that "mellow" tone to them--I'm no expert but I can pick it out when looking at a bunch of dimes back-to, so unless that can be faked . . . ), so all told, if these are all at least real silver, she took in three weeks' worth of my pay for $31.
But, the pics are now up (forgot I'd have to resize, sorry), so let's see what we have here.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
538 Posts |
Looks like generic silver rounds to me if they're real. My mom has one of those silver trade unit rounds. They were made in the 70s or 80s if I remember correctly.
If all of those coins and rounds are real your boss took in well over $1000 for a $30 purchase. Either that person knew what they had was fake and got away with free gas or they had no idea what they had and your boss ripped them off. Either way this just seems wrong to me.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1227 Posts |
Williamson, I replied to your similar comment over in the Circulation Finds thread. I don't doubt that this person did know what they had, and either didn't care, or cared and spent them with us because he knew our store is full of collectors (this is just me, but if I had to spend any of my few antique coins, I'd rather know they were being handed to someone who would scoop them right back up and give them a good home, than some clueless nobody who doesn't even know what a fifty-cent piece is).
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Moderator
Australia
16845 Posts |
Quote:
I'm pretty sure they're real silver (they have that "mellow" tone to them--I'm no expert but I can pick it out when looking at a bunch of dimes back-to, so unless that can be faked . . . ) Sorry, but yes, it can. Many of the folks that come onto the forum and post Chinese fakes are sure they're silver, because they sound like silver. But they're not. See this thread for an example of comments to that effect, as well as pics of various mash-up designs these have come in. This old thread has one of your eagle-and-flag objects. It's also a Chinese-made fantasy dollar. Zero silver content. They typically sell on the street for a couple of dollars each, but people with the connections can buy them in bulk from suppliers in China for much less than a dollar each. I suspect the customer that tendered them knew perfectly well they were fake. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1227 Posts |
Sap, I was referring to the actual toning, not the "ting!" when you drop 'em (I didn't even think to try that--show me a coin that's even purported to be from the 1800s and I'm not dropping the thing, let somebody else do that), but this is good to know. I just looked up the date from one of the other coins (a so-called 1900 Walking Liberty DOLLAR), and all I can say is " . . . well, she said she'd like them even if they were fake because she likes funny money . . . " OUCH! I guess it's very clear we're both still amateurs.
So, my initial impression (fake) was probably right? Sad news.
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Valued Member
United States
255 Posts |
Thanks Sap and Nina for the education. I have never seen coins like this before so I appreciate the links. People continue to amaze me! And Nina I'm glad it was not you who got ripped off.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
538 Posts |
Yea Nina, I responded here before I saw your response over there sorry about that. I think I'm leaning with what others have said so far and I think these are more than likely fake due to the circumstances but I'm not an expert by any means on identifying fakes.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1227 Posts |
Kelly, I am too, but I feel bad for my boss. She's sweet and a genuinely awesome lady--and this happened not three hours after she sold me a a $10 with an odd serial number that I'd asked her to save out of our bank deposit, and a 1950 $20 she'd pulled out of a drawer and gone "Nina collects, wonder if she'd want this . . . " completely without being asked. If you want to talk about adding insult to injury, I got $30 of something I wanted, and she got $30 of junk. Williamson, no worries (I live in a pretty unique area anyway, so I wouldn't exactly expect you to guess I live in a massive mogul haven where the average income is so high we have a Maserati dealer). I'm not an expert either, although I did peg those two early on and cautioned her that the Trade dollars are often counterfeited, and that I would want them authenticated first thing if I were her. Everyone: thanks for your responses (feel free to continue to discuss if you like, too--if they're all fake, which seems likely, it was a rather ballsy move), even though the news is bad. I'll see if my boss is willing to post photographs of a couple of the Morgans--I'm not a Morgan expert either, but I saw nothing on these (aside from the quantity) that suggested to me they were fakes. These might be good things for us to have pictures of. |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1411 Posts |
Umm... My Grandparents live near said dealer... that's interesting
Edited by Windchild
11/26/2012 8:56 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
14454 Posts |
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your boss took in well over $1000 for a $30 purchase Even if it was 3 real Morgans it wouldn't be worth that price. Even if these were 1 ounce of silver each they would only be worth a little over a $100.00 nowhere near $1000.00 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
538 Posts |
I was assuming $31 silver dollars originally, two of which being Trade dollars. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
14454 Posts |
oh ok, I didn't know you thought these were Trade dollars. Trade dollars usually do sell for more than Morgans but they would not have the Morgan Obverse |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
538 Posts |
Nina's post said they received $31 in "antique" silver, 2 of which were Trade dollars. She didn't provide pictures of everything though. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1227 Posts |
Bryan, there were $31, ranging from Peace dollars back to flowing bust dollars. 31*30=930, which is what these would have been worth for spot if they were real. I didn't take pictures of the others because one, my phone memory isn't that big, and two, these were the two I didn't recognise--I want to see if Yalanda will sell me a couple we can add to the forum "black cabinet," because the Peaces, at least, were scary-good. Windchild--in AZ? Cool! |
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Replies: 33 / Views: 4,298 |
Posted 11/26/2012 7:29 pm
