Beware of cast counterfeit Trade and Seated Liberty Dollars on Ebay !

For the last several years, Ebay and other coin markets have been flooded with counterfeit Liberty Seated and Trade Dollars.  These coins are all quite similar in appearance, lacking sharp details, having poorly formed rims, and often very irregular and even non-existant dates. Missing details in figure of 'Liberty' or Eagle's wings where the 'die' was overpolished are found on most, but not all of these. Such overpolishing is unusual on the genuine coins. Most have a grainy surface under 10x magnification, and the tops of letters and the date are rounded and show flaws that would be die chips on genuine coins. They all share a dull toning, brown or grayish, but may be cleaned, whizzed, or even holed to get one's attention away from the coin itself. I have even seen one made into a 'love token'.  Most, but not all, are underweight, weighing in at 21 or 22 grams (real coin is 27+), but a few have been made thicker to get the correct weight.  The underweight coins are easily detected, just compare feel and 'ring' to a common genuine Morgan. Composition is about .100 Ag .900 Sn, giving the coins a 'tinny' ring if dropped on a hard surface. 

These fakes are coming from China, and are often sold by sellers in the Far East, but are increasingly being offered from the US with the classic stories that they are from their grandfather's estate.  This 'Tin Mill' is producing virtually all world 'crown' sized coins, including the US Bust, Seated, Trade and Morgan dollars, as well as British Crowns, Mexican '8-reales', etc.  Again, all have the same look.

Please look at the photos here, all of the coins pictured are Counterfeit. This 1842 is redone from an 1846 coin, the gouge at 'LI' of Liberty shows clearly.  Any match to this mark is Fake, but many others do not show this diagnostic.

Above is a counterfeit 1845 Seated Dollar, any seated dollar with the doubled 'UNITED' on reverse is Fake.  Usually seen on 1845, occasionally on 1846.  This particular coin shows clearly how a doubled 'die' is made, in this case probably by pressing the real coin into the plaster first at an angle, then a second time more evenly.

The 1841, 1842, and 1845 are all copied from an 1846 original, and show a gouge at "LI" of Liberty.  There are several new 'molds' in use, beware of 1840, 1846, 1856, 1871 and 1872 Seated Dollars, and ALL dates of Trades.  Any coins with 'fantasy' dates are fake, 1856-S, 1882-S, etc were never minted.  Likewise, many of these have the dies oriented in 'medal turn' rather than the normal 'coin turn' for US coins, there are a few genuine errors, but these are almost certainly fake.  Also, many of these fakes will have the wrong reverse type for the year, such as the 1877-cc shown. This coin has a Type I reverse, which was not used after 1876, as well as the small 'cc', mintmark, again copied from an earlier date.

As a long-time collector, ebay seller, and member of the Liberty Seated Collectors' Club, I hate to see people getting ripped off by these.  If you like to collect fakes, perhaps $10 is a fair price, but they are constantly selling for hundreds.  If you are not expert with these coins, only buy coins certified by PCGS, NGC, ANACS, IGC, PCI or SEGS.  Beware of 'alphabet soup' grading companies, which will have initials that are close to the above. 

If a coin looks like any of the pictures, it is almost certainly a counterfeit !

Hope this will save some collectors from wasting lots of money on worthless copies of rare coins.

Bcoinman