Two New US Forgeries To Add To Your List

I just noticed a pair of US coins being sold in private auctions by a Taiwanese seller noted for sales of forged world coins. He is new to ebay - starting in March 2006. But he has 112 positives from 116 different users - a 100% rating. Here are the two listings:

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAP...m=8428438801

This one is an Isabella Commemorative quarter that taken by itself looks pretty good. The high bidder certainly has been fooled. The scan is too vague to be positive about this one particular coin, but in a classic case of "Guilt by Association" you can definitely tell that his other offerings are standard bogus coins.

The second listing is for a fairly recent forgery. It is an 1809 US Bust Half Dollar which is one of my favorite types. I have only noticed this copy on the market for about two months, so I suspect it is very new to their inventory of dies. It slipped by me on the first few postings but the third or fourth time I saw the same Overton die pair offered by the members of the Peiking group, I got really suspicious. The pictures lack many of the typical diagnostics at this scale. You really need a larger scan to notice the serious problems, but look at the dentils on the obverse between the date and star 7. Look closely at the way they are shadowed and you can see a change of direction that gives away a distortion in the die (or mold) used to make this forgery. On originals the dentils are a die feature that was cut into the die along a straight line surface - they shouldn't bend or have an angle point along an arc that mimics the edge of the struck coin. The dies used for Bust Half Dollars were larger than the planchets and there was no striking collar so the pressure of the strike caused a spread of the planchet without any distortion such as you encounter on more modern collared strikes. But it looks good enough in isolation to get bids over $100 easily.

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAP...m=8428438801

How do I know? I violate ebay rules by copying photos to a file on my PC. These sellers are saavy enough not to post two identical copies at the same time. They use multiple identities (at least 6 that mail coins from the same address) and they wait about 30 days between postings on the same ID name. That way the old auctions are gone before the new copies are posted. I have a large file of old postings and in many cases you can actually spot die identical die markers in the form of post strike damage on coins with different toning patterns.

Now take a look at the more commonly enountered junk copies that everyone is (or should be) aware of:

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAP...m=8428323070

This is a pretty good rendering of the 1875 S Trade dollar - looks good but notice the seam line on the raised edge on the reverse.

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAP...m=8428322752

This is a common forgery of the Chinese Dragon Dollar with a very visable seam line on the reverse (side without the Dragon). This coin also has the typical "dull" surface texture of a transfer copy made with dental plastic.

Just watch this fellow's offerings over a couple months (and violate ebay rules by making copies of his pictures) and you will notice that he offers repeated copies of a few date coins but very rarely any others. Why are all of his Bust Halves dated 1809? How come he never posts an 1834? How come all of his coins are always in about the same grade and have great eye appeal? OH, and why do you sometimes find that the coins have the same dents and dings?

If you don't know the answer to that last question you need to ask before you buy another coin on ebay or any place else.