Possible Counterfeit? $3 Gold 1855

No. He said he had gotten it from an old estate. The screw for the pendant was soldered together, so it wasn't easy to remove. Fortunately none of it was soldered to the coin. I know it was a risk, one that I won't take in the future....but it will have really paid off if this coin is authentic. The pics dont in any way do it justice.

Yeah, I will probably send it in. I have this gut feeling that it is a counterfeit. I have been intently studying the coin last night and comparing it to the real one. I noticed some differences, and I want your guys opinion on this. The online pic is bad, but it is the best I have and Ive placed it side by side with the genuine copy in a pic for comparison. I've circled the areas of concern in the picture.

First, there is a slight change in the hair "wave" at a point on the obverse compared to the real coin. (see picture).

Secondly, there is a very light row of berries on the top of the wreath(both sides) on the original that dont seem to exist on my copy. This is one of the lighter details of the coin, so maybe its possible mine was weakly struck?

also, there is a faint background leaf on the inside of the wreath of the genuine coin. Mine is there too, but it is much fainter and doesn't fully connect to the wreath. again, weakly struck?

Putting all of these things together is seriously causing me to question this coin's authenticity.



Image: 3dollarcompare.jpg
96.44 KB

The coin looks fake to me. The hairlines seem pecular. I'd take it to a coin shop and ask for their advice to make sure. -PP

With the second picture, I think I see the peculiarity of the hairlines he mentioned. However, it does look more "genuine" that the first picture.

The new photos show many small raised dots in the fields which I believe are a common hallmark of counterfeits struck from dies made using a "spark erosion" process. Details on the wreath are mushy (another characteristic of spark erosion dies). Liberty's hair however looks more detailed than on a normal coin. I'd guess the die had been tooled to strengthen the detail in this area.

I still think your best bet is to send it to ANACS. If (when!) it comes back as a fake you can then attempt to sell it as a known counterfeit. You might find a counterfeit collector that will pay you as much as it cost you in the first place. Hey, stranger things have happened!

Another reason many fake US gold pieces were made was to circumvent the prohibition on ownership of gold bullion in the US. Until 1974 it was actually illegal to own gold bars (thank you FDR!) but gold coins were legal. The Middle East in particular developed a thriving business in making replica US gold coins which were purchased by US residents. Some of those copies were pretty accurate and deceptive.

Thanks for all of the input everyone! This has become a very discouraging situation for me. I don't mind so much the issue with my Morgan "micro-O', but this purchase put a much greater dent in my wallet and all of these facts I'm learning about counterfits are ruining the hobby for me. I had a funny fealing about this coin, but there wasnt much I could do about inspecting it without removing it from the, "break this seal and any return is null and void" encasement for the coin. The counterfit signs on this one are more obvious with close inspection, but what about all the ones that are more deceptive? I've been reading that many are so deceptive that dealers are often fooled?

Now you would think the solution to this would be to buy slabbed coins, right? Then what is all of this I keep reading about counterfitted slabs? And those are just the ones that were discovered! I mean, when it comes down to it, how can you ever be sure you are getting the real deal when you make a significant purchase on a coin? I have read the list of trusted ebay dealers, which is another option...but my gf's grandfather is also a coin collector, and one of his "trusted" dealers ended up running off with 10K worth of coins that the dealer was going to sell for him. I guess I could hire a PCGS expert to look at all the potential purchases I make...........I don't know. I'm sure I sound really paranoid, and I'm sorry about the rant........it's just been a rough coin month for me. I've learned a lot, that's for sure......and I will be strongly skeptical about every coin I purchase if I continue with the hobby. I haven't been able to show my coin to a dealer yet, but there is enough dirt on this coin to label it counterfit. I will go to a dealer to make sure though, but I wont bother sending it in for slabbing unless the dealer thinks its real(pretty doubtful). It's sad, because it is truly such a beautiful coin in person.......and it would have been the crown jewel of my collection.

Most of my other gold coins that I purchased were within 10-20% of the current "bullion" value, sometimes quite a bit less. I'm sort of a bargain hunter...:-P I weighed and measured all of them, and they all check out as good.....so even if any are fake(which I doubt), I wouldnt lose much because they have their gold value. I have almost a complete type set up to the $10 gold pieces of indian and liberty(just missing the indian princess $1 gold piece). The only other gold purchase that I payed a significant premium over melt is my 1834 2.50 classic head. I'm not quite sure what it would grade, but I'll post pics up in another thread for viewing/comments.

thanks for listening, and I hope I don't ruin the fun for other collectors. Maybe people will learn from my experience.
John

Don't forget there have also been counterfeit coins slabbed by PCGS, too. With everything in life there's a risk, but the TPG eliminate 99.9999999999999999999% of it. The chances that your going to encounter an counterfeit coin in a slab or an counterfeit slab are extremely slim (unless your on ebay). But if you do your research on the coin you want, then those counterfeits stick out like a sore thumb. So are you going to keep the $3 gold?

Edited for spelling.