Fake Morgan Dollor

Quite a few of these come out of China where it is not illegal to produce these counterfeits. They are considered art. I read that somewhere on the forum, but can't remember which thread.

Thank you all for your replies. All I can say about the feel is that it is light enough that if you hold a real morgan in one hand and the fake in the other, you can easily feel a difference. Also, it just doesn't "feel" like silver. I don't know how to explain it. My first clue is was fake is that I picked it up for $3.

Some Morgan forgeries are relatively valuable. The micro o forgeries are in that class. They are treated as rare VAM varieties but they are just counterfeits that went for years undetected. They were identified as fakes by a dealer friend of mine in Boston in 1976 but it was not until last year that the opinion became more accepted. If he were alive today he would be laughing at all these "experts".

I was the member who advised that the manufacture of counterfeit coins in China was legal - it is treated as art. But since a Morgan dollar is still monetized - IT IS ILLEGAL TO POSSESS in the US. I don't think anyone would bother to proscecute this "crime" however. The importation of counterfeits is also illegal, but not enforced.

There are numerous Morgan forgeries made in various metals and made using different technologies and at different times. The most collectable (at least in my opinion) are the ones made from hand engraved dies and made at the same times that the Morgans were. The metal used is less important, but silver is best. The copper ones are second followed by white metal, tin , zinc and last pewter/lead.

Transfer dies as a class are second. Cast dies are last - unless they are listed varieties known to be contemporary.

Modern copies which predominate are essentially worthless they are JUNK.

If you can post pictures - provide a weight (1/10 gram) and measurements in mm, I can probably classify it for you and estimate what a collector would pay. I have many contacts in the counterfeit collector world.

Again, thank you for all the information. I will try to post pictures and measurements tomorrow, 4/22. I don't think I can get it done earlier than that. I aapreciate the interest. I am starting to be glad I bought the thing!