Spotting Fake Barber Dimes

Hello Everybody.

This is my first guide hope it is helpful to many of you. Like many of you i am a coin collector and since 2005 i am also a ebay coin seller.

Recently i have seen ebay coin market beeing flooded with fake/replica/copy US and World Coins. In the beginning there were few and very easily to spot, since these forgeries did not had any quality, however and nowadays, replicas are getting better and it is harder to spot them. This is very bad to collectors since your valued coin will see a decrease in it´s value, and also bad to honest sellers that will see their auctions final value decrease since everybody is suspicious on everybody. These coins are listed in ebay stamped with words like Replica or Copy, but don´t underestimate these guys these are only the ones they picture on ebay they have thousands of other coins not stamped and ready to flood the coin market, just ask one of this sellers if they can get you a coin without the stamp, and the problem will start when your neighbour is selling these coins, because he or somebody from who he bought the coin from, just got it. And so the listing will not originate in China and have a stamp called replica but will be a listing from a US seller, in a fake coin but now without the stamp.

First advice i give to anyone that wants to buy a coin, is to make a research previous buying the coin, go to the internet, buy coin books, talk to someone who has some experience in the numismatic field. Second and if you are buying in ebay, seek good sellers, auctions with accurate descriptions, large clear photos that do not give you any doubt about the coin you are purchasing, and check out the seller feedback, see what others have told about him.

Ok let´s now see some characteristics of fake barber dimes.

The Luster- On a Chinese replica coin, you will never find full or partial mint luster, and all colour is a grey or dark grey, their aspect is dull, this means there are no white silvers and no shinny coins.

The Lettering- The first thing to spot is the inscriptions, check out the dates on this coins, they have both the date from 1897, but look carefully to the "8", "9" and the "7", they are diferent from the fake on the left to the legitimate on the right.

The Strike (Lack of Definition)- On all these replicas, the strike is dull, you can see sharply the inscription "United States of America" but when it comes to the "Liberty" inscription everything is fuzzy, all the small details are not sharp, they are there but you cannot see

them clearly and that is not the photo fault.

The Clones- All coins look alike they are all the same except the date, see family photo below.

The Pearling Near the Rim- This is probably on of the best ways to spot these replicas, the pearling is never correct, it is not regular all around the coin, check the following pictures and notice the area in orange in the fake on the left with the same area on a original issue.

One advise i give to all of you is to start practicing these few ways to trace these forgeries, start looking, on the replicas listed on ebay, and aply these steps you will see that you will trace the Fake coins.

If anyone has some extra information on hot to spot these forgeries please contact me at  ebay, i am sure there are more ways to trace them.

Thanks to Everybody

Rui Teixeira