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 Replies: 22 / Views: 3,853 |
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New Member
United States
8 Posts |
1885 Trade dollar. I know that there were many counterfeits. I searched the internet and found photos of counterfeits and they are mostly very obvious. This one has the detail, it's silver, and feels "old". I'm sure it must be a counterfeit, but what about this coin reveals it as a counterfeit? The consignor who brought this into the auction was given this coin many years ago. Is there any chance at all that this could be an impaired proof of some kind?   |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3592 Posts |
I'm no expert but the denticles don't look genuine to me.Let's see what the experts say..and did you weigh it ? Check diameter ?
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10045 Posts |
The CCF site has a great reference page and photo to compare against your coin's weight and details. Personally, I think the date excludes any possibility of being genuine, as only 5 proofs were struck. |
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Valued Member
United States
122 Posts |
Look at the "berries" under the tip of the eagles wing.
Compare that to the picture of the reverse on the reference page photo.
A lot of the detail on the reverse seems "blobed".
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2130 Posts |
I don't believe that this is a proof. I do believe it to be counterfeit. In part because the rev. on this coin doesn't have the arrow head ending over the 2 and has the berry under the talons. Your obv. has 4 fingers, scroll tips point down(obv.2), this should have rev.2. You have rev.1. In short all mintage's & mm's from 1877 - 1885 used obv.2 with rev2. You should also weigh it 27.22g. I hope this helps.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12437 Posts |
 Not really sure how much you know about coins, but this one is certainly a fake and not a very good one. How do you know it is silver, did you weigh it? Even if it was silver, that says nothing about authenticity as many numismatic counterfeits are indeed made of silver. As for detail, it is not even close to any genuine Trade dollar. Notice how Liberty just kind of fades into the fields, that would never happen on a real US coin. Of course, most obvious is the mismatched reverse that is only found on 1876 and earlier Trade dollars. Diagnostic is the arrow over 420 on the reverse, it should be over the 2 and not the 0. Edited by biokemist6
01/27/2011 11:29 pm
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Valued Member
United States
286 Posts |
how much did you pay for it? hopefully not much
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4989 Posts |
Looks like the metal was poured into a mold rather than struck. Virtually no detail to the devices. A real proof coin would be very sharply struck.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5832 Posts |
Photos is elongated. Need better pictures than what's shown.
The chance of being real is almost nil, and what weight it is as bio asked.
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Valued Member
United States
212 Posts |
Sloppy. Sloppy. Agree with Fenton. Not sharp.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3076 Posts |
Typical is, for a counterfeit...to be a worn coin so as to imply its originality.....AS above many have noticed the lack of detail a true proof would have, even if worn....on the reverse, the denticle's below the llar of dollar are not there.....The Trade dollars are heavily counterfeited...as they are a high dollar coin....and such is the case with this coin... |
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New Member
 United States
8 Posts |
The coin weighed in at 406 grains... a little shy of what it should. We tested and it is silver. The coin was consigned to our auction. Like I said, I am sure that it is counterfeit. I just wanted the opinions as to why. Now I know and can point those flaws out to potential bidders. One question remains... how old is it? It "feels" old. Could it be an "of the period" counterfeit?
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New Member
United States
8 Posts |
One other question... if counterfeiting Trade dollars, why choose 1885 as a date? Wouldn't it make more sense to choose a more common date? |
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Moderator
 United States
23522 Posts |
Quote:
Wouldn't it make more sense to choose a more common date? Depends on the intent of the counterfeit. People are suckers for a long shot. We see about one 1804 Dollar a month here. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
14454 Posts |
this thing doesn't look real at all to me the body builder arm and mushy details is enough for me to say its counterfeit and thats not even taken into account about the date and mismatched die pairing Bio has mentioned above. There is no possible way this coin is real and ranks right up there with one of the worst counterfeit ones I have seen
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
I'd say it is NOT old. It has the appearance of the poor Chinese counterfiets that were common about six years ago. (Oddly enough the Chinese counterfeits in the 1970's and 80's were much better quality than those produced in the early 2000's. About on par with some of the current fairly deceptive production.)
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Replies: 22 / Views: 3,853 |
Posted 01/27/2011 4:42 pm
