We did have a great time at the Greenville, NC coin Show far better than I did the day before in Burlington, NC. Meeting Jim his wife and Little Morgan was a great pleasure. He is a real gentleman.
There was a wide range of very interesting material for such a small show. Coming from Boston, I am used to shows with upwards of 300 dealers but honestly I have seldom seen such a range of fairly priced material even for me.
I got 8 counterfeits - a few that were new to me. To be fair to the dealers - 5 of the 8 were properly attributed as counterfeits but three were not.
The attributed fakes were:
1791 French 30 Sol struck from crudely engraved false dies in brass. The coin has a trace of the original silvering.
1914 Chinese Yuan (KM 329 Year 3 obv) muled with a Fantasy Red Chinese reverse die. Cast copy in white metal with ring die applied reeding.
1878 CC US Trade Dollar Chinese type but heavier than normal and made with a re-tooled mold. All of the details on a transfer mold were re-cut and deepened creating a technical "Fantasy". Metal is a low grade silver casting with a ring applied reeded edge. Coin is very similar to recent posts on
ebay using a very poorly executed mint mark.
1876 Germany - Prussia Zwie (2) Mark - a silvered composite which resembles the "red" plastic like material used on some Kriegsgeld from the Early 20th century. This "counterfeit" is totally unbelievable based on weight. It was located by scoutjim in a box belonging to his favorite dealer.
1920 S Standing Liberty 25 Cent - This coin was previously sold by the coin dealer as real. The buyer determined it was a fake. It is a silver cast copy. The obverse maold has poor fields but the reverse was far better.
The three that were not properly attributed were:
1821 Zs RG Mexico 8R - nice EF which the dealer thought was real. However, it was edged AFTER it was struck and the dies show numerous details similar to modern numismatic forgeries.
1810 Mo HJ Mexico 8R - a decent fine with a rim test cut that the dealer had not closely examined. The coin is a Sheffield Silver Plate likely struck at Birmingham. A circulating Contemporary.
1808 Madrid AI Spain 2 Reale - an example of a debased underwight made from apparently original dies. The edge design is poorly executed so it is possible the coin may have been made from salvaged dies outside the mint.
I did get a few real ones as well - but the number of decent counterfeits and the added benefit of meeting a forum member like Jim made this one of my best days recently.
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Posted 08/07/2006 12:18 am
