A "New" Fraud To Watch For

Wouldn't the fact that it is being sold from China raise a red flag? However I know you are happy to get real or fake so I guess it doesn't matter.

SuperDave The coin is not actually "porous". I would call the fields a bit irregular or perhaps "bumpy". The coins come in both injection molded castings and in silver strikes. The surface color is always a problem - even the struck copies look like they have been chemically altered (because they have.) In person, these irregularities can be pretty obvious. There are also often fine raised lines on the fields caused by rough finishing of the mold surfaces. They do take more care with the silver strikes. But the edges are always poorly executed.

graceoutcast I agree 100% that the origin in China should make any bidder suspicious. However, my caution to everyone is that these are already here in the US on the secondary market. To avoid being caught you need to get to know exactly what these look like BECAUSE the next time you might see one it may be at a local coin show or in the inventory of a less than honest coin dealer.

I bought this one at openers (for about a total of $35 including shipping) so that I could positively ID the piece. If these coins are doctored in the US - worn down to about F and then artificially toned - you need to know exactly what it is.

houston_guy462004 While the great majority of the Oval counterstamps of George III are found on the Portrait series, there are listed original examples of Pillar Dollars being stamped. They are RARE and command very high prices. They are in fact noted in Krause as being founbd on both Pillar types of Mexico - neither is priced. So anyone hoping for a big fat windfall is going to be terribly dissappointed.

I like the contemporary phrase, I have not heard it put that way. As a kid, I was told it went like "The Bank (meaning Bank of England) in order to make its money pass, stamped the head of a fool on the neck of a butt." But either makes the same point.

Back on SuperDave's comments about a "porous surface - I would like to point to two different offerings that I spotted last night that illustrate exactly what I was referring to. Both are Chinese products and they display the TYPICAL surfaces of these fakes. This surface seems to be a function of the die/mold they use NOT the production method for the coin itself. Duplicate copies can be found with IDENTICAL markings. Look at all the auctions that this guy has posted and you should get a feel for what I mean.

http://cgi.ebay.com/1795-MO-FM-8-Re...ks_W0QQitemZ270120797657QQihZ017QQcategoryZ541QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/1803-MO-FT-8-Re...ks_W0QQitemZ270120888277QQihZ017QQcategoryZ541QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

This is not simply an acid treatment of the surface - although some treatment is very likely. I suspect that multiple molds are being created for an injection molding process using master hubs created by either dental plastic casting or a spark erosion method. Even in person it is very hard to tell how they are being made. Multiple methods are definitely being employed.