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 Replies: 7 / Views: 5,203 |
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New Member
Panama
2 Posts |
Hi guys - I have no clue about coins and I live in Panama. I bought a bunch of Austrian Philharmonics a few years ago and when the price of gold dropped recently I went to the local antique store to ask if he had any coins, but he didn't. A few days later he called me and said someone brought is a few random coins and I could buy them if I like. I bought 4 coins and one of them is a 1911-D $10 Indian Head which appears to be quite rare! However, I saw another forum post here with exactly the same coin and exactly the same mint mark as my coin. Unfortunately, many people felt that the coin in the previous post was not authentic and that the mint mark may have been added. The owner never completed the post to let us know if it was real or not after getting a professional opinion. Since it appears there are at least 2 of exactly the same coin, I'm thinking perhaps it is real and it may be a mint error? Anyhow, I would love to hear your opinions on the quality/grade of the coin and if you believe it to be real 1911-D or not? Here are some pics of the coin:   |
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Moderator
 United States
23522 Posts |
Welcome to Coin Community, PanamaJack. Nice to have you here.
The 1911-D is quite rare - only 30,100 minted. It's not impossible to find, just rare, especially in higher grade. The reason that people considered that other coin to be somehow faked is the same reason I'm going to tell you I think yours is faked:
The mint mark looks absolutely nothing like it should. It's far too large, and in the wrong location. Keep in mind, one single die is capable of striking far more than 30,000 coins, especially soft gold coins. There's no reason to believe more than one die was used for this mintage. I do not know that for sure, but I have looked at a lot of individual examples of these - you aren't the first person I've done such research for - and every single one of them has had the mint mark in the same place.
Yours does not. If yours and the other coin have absolutely identical mint marks, I'm forced to believe that they may be complete counterfeits, and likely not even gold. Or, it could be the same person adding a mint mark - if you're creating fakes of this coin, you're not going to do just one.
The bottom line for me is, though, I cannot believe this is a real 1911-D.
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New Member
 Panama
2 Posts |
SsuperDdave - Thanks for the response. I weighed the coin and it is exactly 16.8 grams, so I'm confident it is real gold.
But I agree about the mint mark. It's curious to say the least. However, most mint mark fabrications I've read about were engraved into the coin, not embossed. And I don't see any sign of tool marks or file damage anywhere on the coin, including the outer wall with the stars.
Is it possible there was a second die to cast the coins and perhaps mine is of that lot along with the example in the previous post? (I had a link to previous post from 2010 but it was removed as I'm not allowed yet to post links).
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Valued Member
United States
380 Posts |
Hello,
The Gold Content may be real. It does not mean that the coin is a legitimate US Minted Coin. The Mint-mark looks suspicious.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2311 Posts |
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Moderator
United States
23522 Posts |
Quote:
Is it possible there was a second die to cast the coins and perhaps mine is of that lot along with the example in the previous post? I won't say "never" - that stuff has a way of coming back to bite you.  But the chance is extremely remote. And if there were a second die, the mint mark would look just the same, but in a different location. This is what a "real" one looks like:  Not it is both smaller and shorter in length than yours. These were hand punched into the die, and a second punch wouldn't have been created. Yours looks like the mint mark used in 1910, which is a far more common issue. Even better (for the faker), 1910 is a pretty scarce year for Philadelphia, so if you can remove a 1910-D mint mark, add it to a 1911 and cover your tracks correctly on both, you end up with two added-value coins. To give you an idea of the lengths people have gone: It is known that counterfeiters can go into the side of a coin, and raise a mint mark from the inside of the coin. And unless you knew exactly what they'd done to clean up their tracks, you'd never know. Removing mint marks from one coin and attaching them to another is not difficult. In 7-1/2 years on this forum, I do not remember seeing a genuine 1911-D Eagle. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1511 Posts |
 And  with the responses above, there's really not much to add. Only one thing I'd do maybe. Just because the weight is correct does not necessarily mean the coin is gold (or not).. As mentioned, counterfeiters go to great lengths to make a buck.. Or many bucks. I see nothing that jumps out as suspicious about your coin, nothing that screams fake (other than the mintmark). But just as an added measure it wouldn't be a bad idea to have it tested, or even better graded.. Just to be sure it is actually gold. Again I'm not overly suspicious but with an altered/added mintmark it definitely would be worth making sure. |
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New Member
United States
48 Posts |
That's a good coin out there. However, not able to say if it's real or a counterfeit. I suggest you approach a professional coin grading agency such as NGC, who will ensure whether the coin is authentic and grade it. This will further guide you when you plan to resell. Good luck to you.
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Replies: 7 / Views: 5,203 |
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Posted 05/24/2013 4:32 pm
