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 Replies: 11 / Views: 1,940 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
673 Posts |
Last week the shop owner decided that the circ Morgan box had too many coins in it and asked me to bag up 500 of them to hold in the vault for awhile. Since I don't get the chance to look at so many Morgans in one sitting these days, I thought this would be a great time to find some diamonds in the rough. A couple of O/S , an 1884 VAM 3 Large dot, and this coin were a few of the ones I put aside. I will post the more detailed close up shots of this coin this weekend after you all get a stab at it one from just the regular pics. The Morgan collectors should have no problem attributing this one , and I am hoping the market is not gone for these coins- Or maybe I do hope it has so I can get it on the cheap !  It does have some pretty nasty rim damage, so maybe it will not be worth much anyway, but anything over the $16 circ price is great for the shop - And I was excited to find it. Thanks for looking   |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1219 Posts |
Vam5, Date far left of normal. Micro O tilted right. Privately minted.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5318 Posts |
"Privately minted."--as in contemporary counterfeit, or mint employees doing coins in their spare time?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1219 Posts |
Counterfeit, PCGS has recently stopped certifying all Micro O Morgan dollars believing them all to be counterfeit. |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
673 Posts |
Right on everyone, a pretty easy catch. Now the question is, do these coins still sell in the marketplace ? I could not find any for sale at Teletrade or Heritage, but that is not surprising since most of the coins they sell are in slabs and these are no longer being slabbed. I guess I'll have to search ebay to find any sales of these particular coins. Here are a couple more pics of the coin, the identifying die gouges and the micro-O tilted right.   |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1219 Posts |
II, these coins were so well made, that to the serious VAM collector 1896-O, 1900-O and 1902-O micros are a must have in any condition. And don't forget, these counterfeits tested as high as 96% silver so even as melt they are still worth a little extra. P.S. no mint state coins for any of those years are known to exist. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5318 Posts |
"And don't forget, these counterfeits tested as high as 96% silver so even as melt they are still worth a little extra."  I find it very curious why a forger would do that. Someone sophisticated enough to make these forgeries should have been able pass off 85% silver just as well. There must have been a easy source of silver that made further alloying not cost-effective--just guesses here. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1219 Posts |
Kurt, up until the middle of the 20th century, the open market price of silver was only 25 to 50 cents an ounce. Even using pure silver would have given the counterfeiter twice his money back on each coin.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5318 Posts |
Ah...that makes more sense now! Thanks |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
673 Posts |
I am also told they may have been struck on planchets made for Mexican coins of the time, I believe they had a higher silver content than their U.S. counterparts. I also have read that they were usually "tumbled" or put in a drum and turned with other coins to make them look circulated and non-distinct. That explains the lack of mint-state coins. I do hope that they still remain a "must have" , that would be so awesome !  Thanks for your help, now I just have to find the other two, what a set that would make ! They are going to be tougher to spot - the gouges on this one are hard to miss in any grade. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1219 Posts |
II, get familiar with the reverse, all three of these counterfeits have the exact same markings on them. Same reverse die used for all 3.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
673 Posts |
Right MorgansRmine, I have seen the markings at VAMWorld. The problem is, it is very hard to find the built-in dings on the reverse with the wear on the coins I was looking at, there are quite a few hits around the areas where those particular gouges are- very tough to separate the actual nicks from the struck gouges.
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Replies: 11 / Views: 1,940 |
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Posted 08/07/2008 9:35 pm
