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 Replies: 9 / Views: 5,600 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
747 Posts |
Had a coin dealer hand me an 1888CC and asked my opinion. I think I surprised him with my answer as I'm a serious rookie. It was a nice looking coin, would probably fool most people that look at it. Kinda surprised myself I was correct, told him a fake. They chuckled and said, yup. Man, those counterfeiters sure are good! I'd have loved to bought it at a fake price, is a pretty neat coin for a fake. May talk to them about it again but I doubt they will sell it. Great conversation piece (They knew it was fake and was not trying to sell it). I think they said it was 94% silver.
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New Member
United States
28 Posts |
Really dumb counterfeiters. There is no 1888CC Morgan dollar. If its silver they should melt it down, if not I would hope its destroyed somehow. I hate counterfeits with a passion and do not believe in collecting them. |
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
12477 Posts |
Quote:There is no 1888CC Morgan dollar. That's a good point. The Carson City Mint was not operating in 1888. However, I don't collect the coins minted there, including Morgans, and would not have known that, otherwise. So, hand me a quite convincing fake of a bogus combo I'm not aware of, I would have to think a bit harder. It's a good thing I'm not scouting Morgans.  On the collector/numismatic side, I think owning and studying counterfeits is essential to maintaining the integrity of the hobby. Just like many desirable real coins, fakes often have "markers" and they would never be known unless numismatists examined them many times to see the pattern and then warn others of "hallmarks" of a common fake. There is one well known counterfeit I very much wish to add to my collection.  In Memory of Crazyb0 12-26-1951 to 7-27-2020
In Memory of Tootallious 3-31-1964 to 4-15-2020
In Memory of T-BOP 10-12-1949 to 1-19-2024
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
Quote:
Really dumb counterfeiters. Depends on when it was made. In the 19th century most collectors only cared about the date and most didn't pay attention to the mintmark. It wasn't until Heaton published his monograph on mintmarks in 1893 that anyone really paid any attention to them and collecting by date and mint didn't really become popular until the 1920's and 30's. Until Heaton's work many collectors didn't even know what date/mint combinations existed. If it is 94% silver that would be a sign that it might be contemporary. Silver was so low in price then that the counterfeiters could put full silver weight or more into the coins and still make a tidy profit. Plus actually being silver helped make the coins easier to pass. Edited by Conder101
12/03/2018 09:27 am
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
747 Posts |
The date itself made me take a good hard look, did not look right. Then I remembered, CC was not made in '88. I think the guy that originally bought it thought it was real and paid a price for it. The store has a small amount of fakes, different date/coins that they use for educational pieces. The store is very reputable, I will continue to buy from them. They even showed me a gold coin that was fake, it was so good PCGS had to tell them it was fake so this is not a gig against the store.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
36741 Posts |
The market is flooded with this junk. There are many coins like 1795 dollars with the later Drapped Bust instead of Flowing hair obverse. The counterfeiters are just pumping out as much as they can each day.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5850 Posts |
*ahem* Apparently, as long as there was no such year and mint mark combination actually produced by the mint, this coin is not actually a fake. Instead, it's just a "fantasy coin." Or so I've been told. Repeatedly.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
747 Posts |
When I get a chance, I will post a couple pics of this fantasy coin. It is silver, I just paid a couple dollars over spot price for it. It will go in my collection as a curio/conversation piece (and marked fake). As I look at it, there are a lot of red flags on it. Took a pic of it, daylight is gone for the night so it came out looking pretty bad. Will post pics when I get a chance to get a decent pic.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12477 Posts |
Quote:
Apparently, as long as there was no such year and mint mark combination actually produced by the mint, this coin is not actually a fake. Instead, it's just a "fantasy coin." Another good point!  At the very least, this is true in legal terms. I have no doubt every collector has their own opinion of the matter within a wide spectrum of beliefs. In Memory of Crazyb0 12-26-1951 to 7-27-2020
In Memory of Tootallious 3-31-1964 to 4-15-2020
In Memory of T-BOP 10-12-1949 to 1-19-2024
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
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Replies: 9 / Views: 5,600 |
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Posted 12/03/2018 01:37 am
