Counterfeit Dollars

there are many differences including weight, but without a picture it is hard to tell you which one you may have. Some were struck and some were poured into a mold, the first one is the best looking ones and the second is crude looking to the trained eye. If you could take clear pictures of the Obverse and Reverse and the edge of the coin we have a great counterfit expert on this forum that is very knowledgable and is always happy to help identify fakes of any kind. Without pictures it is almost impossible to tell you the differences between real and fake

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Originally posted by annel

......If they are real I believe there are numerous numbers available here for a cheaper price.

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That statement makes it a virtual guarantee that they're counterfeit.

The commonest counterfeits of these are from China- they have certain characteristics in common. They have a ring, but it is not the sound of a silver coin, as they contain no silver. They are made from moulds, so they will have the mould giveaways- small pocks or raised bumps in the finer details- check around the denticles, around the sections of hair, or finely detailed areas. The open fields have been smoothed down, so they look allright unless you use a high powered glass. The details tend to be weak or weaker, and sometimes unevenly so- some denticles or dots look good, while others are not strong, or are irregular. The edge rifling will have the same characteristics- pocks or bumps in the supposed to be smooth areas. There are some varieties of coins that could not exist, such as a Chinese Obverse and a Japanese reverse, or a US Trade dollar from 1836 . There are a lot of different varieties- I was given 15 different ones at my last show. This type of treatment/metal is also being used on smaller demomination coins- I have seen some from Hong Kong and China in the 5-10-20 cents sizes with the same characteristics, and the same metal. The colour tends to be a medium grey, while silver coins tend towards the white or silver. They look dull, but sometimes the surfaces have been polished to give a fake uncirculated look. I hope this helps. They are waiting to catch the unwary, as they are fairly decent, and common now.