Chop Marks? - Coin Community Forum

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Author	Replies: 5 / Views: 1,644
bluemule31 Valued Member United States 171 Posts	Posted 01/13/2011 04:59 am Somebody tell me about chop marks please? It;s not defined in the CCF glossary and I keep reading about them. Was it an attempt to break a large coin into smaller denominations? Report this Post to the Staff

mdh157 Pillar of the Community United States 952 Posts	Posted 01/13/2011 07:21 am Chop marks are normally only found on US Trade dollars due to the fact that the circulated in China. The Chinese merchants were always on the lookout for fakes, and when they found a coin that they were able to verify as authentic they'd stamp their marks into it - thus the term chop marks. This way, when the coin reached other merchants they would already know it was a authentic coin if it had the marks. I should also clarify that marks were put on other countries coins as well, but the Trade dollar is the only US coins that normally got them Report this Post to the Staff
upstate Pillar of the Community United States 3283 Posts	Posted 01/13/2011 09:23 am Dang, they should have put the chop marks on the fakes! Report this Post to the Staff
Bryan1315 Bedrock of the Community United States 14454 Posts	Posted 01/13/2011 3:06 pm the thing is the counterfeiters starting putting fake chop marks on the counterfeit coins so now just because it has chops doesn't mean its real any longer Report this Post to the Staff
mdh157 Pillar of the Community United States 952 Posts	Posted 01/13/2011 8:45 pm Good point Bryan.......makes it so the best thing to consider when buying is a slabbed coin if possible.....and one of the top grading services like pcgs or mgc Report this Post to the Staff
jfransch Pillar of the Community United States 1801 Posts	Posted 01/13/2011 9:44 pm Except that the counterfeiters now fake the slab as well. ebay has a whole website of fake coins, huge number of them are in fake slabs. Really a scary site to look at. Best protection is to become knowledgeable in the types of coins you collect and deal with reputable dealers that guarantee the coin as genuine. Report this Post to the Staff
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