Is This Another Fake? (1947 South Africa 5 Sh.)

I'ma have to sit in the back seat on thisen because I know nothing about this series. The color looks funny to me but heck I dont even know what its supposed to be made out of, it just looks like the same color of the fake trade dollars/morgans I have seen

Thanks!

Since the mintage is only 300,000, why is it so inexpensive?

quote:

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Originally posted by Alf_coin

Since the mintage is only 300,000, why is it so inexpensive?

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Very few people apparently collect this coin series.

Swamperbob, thank you!

Here are 2 pictures of its edge, which just composes a whole round.


Image 01:


Image 02:

Alf_coin, Just about every coin I have seen come from your country that wasnt a chinese coin was counterfit (I am sure some are legit, I just havent seen them). Every one must be doing it in their basement there or something

I hope that didn't sound like it was a statement towards you, I was just making a obversation not anything to do with any specific individual. Like I said, I am sure some US coins there are legit coins, it just seems like most of the ones that comes to the mark place are contemporary counterfits for some reason. If it sounded like an attack on you or a specific area I appologize because that is definately not what it was meant to be

I have a hard time identifying fakes...

Natsud - hello and welcome to the forum. I am going to start by saying one thing - it's NOT easy at first to spot a fake in a picture, so don't get discouraged. However, after some experience looking at fakes it does become rather obvious. I got my first fake coins in 1960 or so and have been in love with the topic since. My advice is to take this in small steps.

Once you have selected a type of coin you want to collect start by learning everything about how that particular coin was produced. Was it struck from hubbed dies or engraved dies? Was it cast? Or struck on cast planchets or rolled planchets? Was the planchet upset? When was the edge applied? Did the coin press use a collar die or dies? What does the edge look like anyway? There are many, MANY other questions. Then look for clues on the coin that point toward or away from those methods. Finally get familiar with how forgers work. Larson's recent book on forgery is a great starting spot to detect Modern Forgery methods.

Here is the ANA library listing.

AA70.L3
Larson, Charles Martin
Numismatic forgery, an illustrated, annotated guide to the
practical principles, methods, and techniques employed in the
private manufacture of rare coins.

N.p., n.pub., 1995. 295p.
COINS--COUNTERFEITS & COUNTERFEITING"

The first thing I usually have when looking at a scan on ebay is a "gut feeling" that something is wrong. Sometimes I have to figure out what it is, but usually there are clear reasons.

Prepare to be fooled - especially at the start. It happens all the time. But I think I am doing well if I get 19 out of 20. I also end up with a lot of "suspect" coins that sit there until I find out more about how a particular coin was made. At times, the suspects will change category depending on what new facts about production might come to light.

Just a couple weeks ago, I was authenticating and attributing an estate collection that included 14 1 Real cobs from the reign of Charles II dated in the 1680s to 1700. (Cobs are not things I really care for). Not one was the correct weight and all had Specific Gravities in the 9 to 9.5 range. Silver coins over 0.900 fine should be about 10.34 and copper is about 8.9. These are all clearly debased and combined with being underweight they averaged about 50% of the standard intrinsic value. None were clipped or filed. So I thought they must be modern fakes - cased closed a "slam dunk". This position was reinforced by the fact that the collection also contained two later 8R counterfeits and a cast copy of a French 40 Franc from the 1830s.

WRONG!

After contacting someone more expert than myself (Dan Sedwick - who co-wrote the Practical Book of Cobs third edition) I had to stand corrected. He informed me that the Peruvian and Bolivian mints in the late 1600s were always making debased lightweight minor coins. He believes that they are real mint made coins - but debased. So they fall into that hotly debated category of fraudulent mint issues. Because they are so common - they are treated and apparently priced as "real".

So, sometimes facts that would make for a perfectly clear decision in the year 1800 might be incorrect in 1700 because the standards of production changed.

If any of what I have said raises questions - please ask. The only dumb question is the one you don't ask.