From the category archives:

Counterfeit Coins

There are now so many fake £1 coins in circulation the Royal Mint could be forced to scrap all of the coins and reissue the entire denomination.

Their warning came as new figures indicated there were £41 million fake £1 coins in Britain – one in every 36 in circulation. This is a record level and suggests that the proportion of counterfeit coins had tripled in the last decade. The situation has worsened since last year, when ...

Full Article: Record number of fake £1 coins could force reissue - Telegraph.co.uk

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Many counterfeit coins have one side that is more deceptive than the other.  That is the case for the 1895-O Morgan dollar that a dealer and collector asked me to authenticate recently. I found that several characteristics of this fake were interesting enough for me to share with you here.

This fake is die struck. Overall, it is better made than all but a few of the current fakes from China that I have encountered. No telling where or when this coin was made. I have heard that the more money you pay to the manufacturer, the better quality copy you’ll ...

Full Article: Crude '5' in date gives away fake - Numismatic News

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Avoiding Silver Eagle Coin Fraud

by Susan's Coins Blog on July 15, 2010

in Blogs, Counterfeit Coins, Susan's Coins Blog

Question: How Can I Avoid Silver Eagle Coin Fraud and Other Fake Silver Coins?
Coin fraud is an unfortunate reality in the coin collecting marketplace, but you can avoid buying fake silver coins, and avoid coin fraud in general, by learning how to spot fake coins. We will use a fake Silver Eagle to demonstrate some easy steps to avoid buying fake coins ...

Full Article: How Can I Avoid Silver Eagle Coin Fraud and Other Fake Silver Coins? - Susan's Coins Blog

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First of all, Godless Dollar email hoaxes aside, not all Presidential Dollars are "Godless Dollars." The term "Godless Dollar" refers only to those dollar coins that are missing the inscriptions on the edge, which include In God We Trust, E Pluribus Unum, the date, and the mint mark. The proper term for these dollars is plain edge dollars because the edge is plain, rather than inscribed like it should be ...

Full Article: How to Tell if a Godless Plain Edge Dollar is Fake - Susan's Coins Blog

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This proof 1878 Shield Nickel looks pretty at first glance, but a more careful evaluation reveals that it's a fake. The old saying, "When a thief kisses you, count your teeth," can be applied to the world of business in many useful ways. And when it comes to counterfeit detection, it is also surprisingly apt, offering some very literal and practical advice.

Most classic coins display an ornamental border surrounding their rims, often consisting of beads or, more commonly, denticles ...

Full Article: Counterfeit Detection: The Kissing Thief - Numismatic Guaranty Corporation

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Urban legends have a nasty habit of spreading once their seed has been planted. It appears some carelessly made remarks from a local Toronto merchant that were followed by a report on a television station investigating those remarks may have initiated the latest concerns blossoming into a numismatic urban legend that Canada’s $2 "toonie" coin is being widely counterfeited ...

Full Article: Counterfeit $2 'Toonie' an Urban Legend - NumisMaster

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Jim Everett worries that soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan might be buying their way to their own deaths.

Everett, owner of Tiah’s Coins and Currency on Fort Campbell Boulevard, has accumulated more than 550 seemingly rare coins brought in by soldiers returning from the two countries who’ve been led to believe they’ll make money selling the coins back in the U.S...

Full Article: Soldiers returning with fake U.S. coins - TheLeafChronicle.com

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I had an e-mail this morning from Asia. The sender wanted to know if I was interested in trading for coins he had. The images he sent looked like fakes to me.

Now thanks to spam e-mails like this the fakes come right to my desk. I don’t have to search online auctions anymore. Next step I imagine is ...

Full Article: Get ready to fill those album holes - Numismatic News

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A rare-coin dealer is suspected of selling counterfeit coins at a collectibles show at the Antique Warehouse, 1122 Tittabawassee in Kochville Township, held on May 15, State Police Detective Sgt. Gary L. Thomas of the Bridgeport Post says.

"The person that purchased these started to think about how good a deal he got on some of these coins," Thomas said...

Full Article: Rare coin dealer suspected of selling counterfeit coin in Kochville Townships - MLive.com

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Counterfeit Detection: Fake 1884-S Morgan Dollar

May 21, 2010

Lest you think spotting fakes is easy, take a look at this 1884-S Morgan Dollar.
Each month in this column, we discuss some of the fundamentals of counterfeit detection, using counterfeit coins as illustrations. To date, the examples shown have not been deceptive. By that, we mean that they would never fool a professional  …
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Counterfeit Coin Scam Hits Monterey

May 6, 2010

A state wide counterfeit coin scam hits the Central Coast costing one bushiness owner thousands of dollars. The counterfeit coin came in a case and it appeared to be certified by a reputable company. But when they opened the case they found two different coins that had been cut …
Full Article: Counterfeit Coin Scam Hits [...]

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Counterfeit Coin Detection: Deception Includes Condition

April 29, 2010

One common way that counterfeiters attempt to deceive is by faking wear or damage. This is shown by looking at recently submitted fakes of an 1877 Indian Cent and a 1901-S Barber Quarter.
When it comes to the counterfeiter’s craft, attempts at deception don’t stop after making a fake coin. Most fake coins will [...]

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Funny Money (Counterfeit) Exhibition at Federal Reserve Bank of New York

April 22, 2010

The Fight of the United States Secret Service against Counterfeit Money opened on Friday, April 9, 2010 at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Counterfeiting money is one of the most common financial crimes in the history of mankind. Often punished severely, it nevertheless continues to the present day.
Organized by the American Numismatic Society, the [...]

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Counterfeit Coin Detection: Pass the Test

March 16, 2010

A basic lesson will help you always catch fakes, like this 1895-O Morgan Dollar, which could be deceptive to many. In high school history class, a student asks his teacher, “Do I need to memorize dates for tomorrow’s test?” The teacher replies, “No dates.”
Encouraged, the young student goes home and studies hard, following the teacher’s [...]

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Fakes coins share certain surface characteristics

March 2, 2010

If someone asks you to name some of the defects commonly found on counterfeit coins what would you say? What would you look for on a coin that you suspected to be counterfeit?
Did you say weight? One authenticator that I have worked with routinely weighed any coin he suspected might not be genuine. I [...]

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