20$ 1924 Fake Or Not?

34.5gm is a bit heavy; it should weigh 33.4gm. That may be a function of the scale, or it may not. And yes, they've been known to be counterfeited. 1924 is the second-highest mintage of the entire series, which is to say that it's probably be my choice if I were creating counterfeits to put into circulation.

I don't see anything about this one which causes me to immediately panic, but I'm far from an authority on the series and defer to those with greater knowledge. They'll be along soon.

I am crossing my fingers that your scale is not properly calibrated.

From those picture, this one *looks* genuine; but aye, please double-check the weight (re-calibrate your scale if you can first) and look at the edge (a picture of that would make it much easier for us to look along with you :-) ).

I remain cautiously optimistic. The condition of the edge lettering is not a disqualifier. Use that lovely Half Eagle as a possible calibration for your scale; it should read very close to 8.24gm.

Maybe the scale should be authenticated instead of the coin...

I'll try to work out the problem with the scale as soon,as I can.

If it needs 50 grams, give it 10 nickels in good shape. Each nickel is 5 grams, so it should average out to within a very small fraction of a gram to 50.

Here is a link for counterfeit 1924 Saint diagnostics paper from Brian Silliman and the ANA.

http://www.money.org/media/6741/192...udens$20.pdf

I don't see any marks on your example that alert me right away, but you can see up closer yourself, check all the diagnostic tooling marks against the article photos and your coin. I'd still spend the money to have it certified, not only to ease my own mind, but that would aid in resale if and when the time comes.

I've seen some incredibly well made counterfeit saints while taking the ANA Counterfeit Detection course at the ANA Summer Seminar, it's really pretty amazing just how good they can be made.

The famous 1907 Omega coins come to mind, the maker "Omega" put an omega sign on his coins, presumably so he wouldn't buy back his own creations. Other than that minuscule mark, the coin is just about perfect when compared to a real one.

--copy from wikipedia--
Among the examples of counterfeits of high-value collectible coins are the "Omega" coins produced in the early 1970s by an unknown counterfeiter who signed his creations with a miniature Greek letter omega. He is believed to have made over 20,000 fake 1907 high-relief nominally US$20 gold Double Eagle coins with the signature omega in the claw of the eagle, worth hundreds of millions of dollars at today's prices. His counterfeits are of such high quality that collectors will pay upwards of $1,000 for one; although a genuine coin sells for about $50,000 to $100,000. The same counterfeiter also counterfeited other US gold coins, including a large quantity of $3 gold pieces, dated 1874, 1878 and 1882, with the 1882 being the most prevalent. Two of the counterfeit $10 gold pieces, the 1913-P and 1926-P, have the omega placed upside down within the upper loop of the "R" of "LIBERTY" in the Indian's headdress.
--end copy--

Interesting that the Omega saints are so well known (20,000+ known to have been made) that they sell in their own right as collector pieces now.