Article On Counterfeit Coins

It is not too hard to make explosive impact dies from original coins. I would not put it past clandestine operations in several suspect countries to then use those dies in a very competent coining press. I know of rare coins that have been stolen from museums and subsequently returned after dies have been made.

Your only defence against this type of practice is to examine a number of suspect coins from the same source. This is sometimes impossible, because you only have one example of the suspect coin to examine. If you only have one coin, and you suspect it, photograph it in as higher detail as possible and report it on a coin forum such as this one. Let all of our collective eyes examine it for you.

To make an explosive impact die, you need a genuine original. Unless the original is in FDC condition, or at least MS63 or better, the die produced from the original will also pick any minor defects such as bag marks, post mint scratches and die variety of the original coin.

This is the reason why you need more than one suspect coin to examine, because all of the above mentioned minor defects will be faithfully reproduced on the fakes. A blink comparison microscope is not essential, but is a very useful instrument for comparison examination of similar or same coins at the same time. If exactly the same defects show up in exactly the same positions, then both coins are suspect and should be reported. You can also compare an original coin with a suspect one with this instrument.

very interesting article and though I don't collect amercian I do enjoy reading good coin articles

another website to enjoy...excellent

A collective of collectors collectively examining your collection of collectables, as it were.