Fake Morgan Dollars are becoming epidemic!!!

[iverson]

do a common sense test.
online dealers selling AU-MS morgan at 41 to 48 each, and you got them for 32 each (advertised AU-MS), all shiney ones too, with capsule, different dates, no order limit too, i'm in heaven

I read this comment in an extremely innocent and kid-like voice in my head and then I couldn't stop laughing.

[iverson]

Is it me, or are the upper nose lines off a bit and eye-brow?

That's how I spotted it. The eye and nose area didn't look right at all.

[SunTzu]

The Chinese have our actual old coin press machines used to make Morgans and other old US coinage that we sold off many decades ago.



More Chinese fakes. There are dealers and shops all over China.

Here are some quarters before they go through the toning and wear process to age them.



I learned about this a couple years ago at the FUN show in Florida. They are also creating fake PCGS slabs with correct labels that match the PCGS registry.

[Possum Lite]

A month ago I came across this exceptional fake 1921 on EB. The coin had the exact dimensions and exact weight of a real Morgan - but it could not "ring" one bit when tapped on the edge with another coin. Only a thud. I have tested over the years a few hundred other Morgans acquired a few at a time, and every real one has the distinct ring. The fake ones I encountered were all off significantly in weight if they were the right size, and they could not ring. My understanding is only copper could ring like silver, but a copper coin would be completely wrong in weight, a scale wouldn't even be needed. As far as the detail on this fake, to my eye everything looks right, maybe the chin is a bit protruding though, and there appears also what might be some prior acid test spots.

My presumption on this fake 1921 is that it is a molybdenum coin that was silver plated. I hope my pictures show up here, you can see that with magnification there is a tiny flake in the plating on the second star below the "M" in Unum, and on the left side of the flake is what appears to be a crack or peel in the plating. The larger area on the reverse to the lower left of the wing also appears to be lost plating.

The seller promptly refunded my money, but so far for me the three tests of weight, dimensions and ring are necessary. This is for common dates. Apparently for scarce dates the Chinese are now using laser 3D created dies from original coins and stamping them on silver planchets. I don't know how you could detect those on the fly.

[ParlayTheHard8]

Don't know if it would do any good, but why don't we all send a letter/email to our congressmen. Maybe ripping off branded goods is certainly illegal, but this is counterfeiting a US government minted coin. Would be difficult to get those guys operating the Beijing back alley operation, but these are being sold here. If the sellers were made to reveal their sources, and prosecuted to the full extent of existing laws, seems to me like we could do something about this.

[captainsilverton]

weight dimensions and ring will work for me 99% of the time.
well posted..

and it will work for most of us all the time..otherwise it is a fake in ... yup .999 silver...a whole notha' story....

i have sat down after buys, and during some buys, at shows, etc etc..... for hours, doing just that, weigh, caliper and ringtone.....I can also guess that if I have had well over 100,000 silver dollars maybe more run through my fingers, i am a touch'er, if allowed....anyway, a lot of damn Morgan's passed through my hands for whatever reason, and i have had the time to check with those 3 parameters often, always have when in doubt....

seems though we need to be in doubt now... always...

i have only found, personally, maybe 15-17 fakes of Morgans and bullion ? not sure exactly, i have probably missed some, as we all know we are not perfect, in over lets say 20 years that i have been religiously testing.....well, in binges, LOL...

also I personally have not seen a big increase, and i get around... though i read about here a lot, and often it comes up on other venues, from conversation to news or article, video, etc etc... I am sure, I am convinced it is all getting worse in percentages of fakes in circulation....

yup weight...dimensions...ringtone, and never forget a good look with a loop....like a concealed weapon, don't leave home with out a loop if ya like looking at bullion and coins...ya never know where you will stop or come across our shiny, and those pesky fakes...do not discount a good feel, hey who would.. i often cop a feel by closing my eyes, opening my hand and picking up the coin and the hand and brain connection does the rest, i know far from fool proof but damn good, huh??...

hey, if you touch a lot of the same item, get a feel of the same item, ya get to know that feel, better then you may think.....something is innate in us, our sense of touch and memory are entwined very well by our creator or evolution, if we pay attention and focus...no bullsheeeet, it works, were a complex physiological entity...i for one find it amazing, and never forget it, you know?...LOL... anyway acid test when uncertain after those 3 parameters do not align, weight dimensions and ringtone..

we have a small container of all sorts of PM fakes in coin form, maybe 50-70 or so coins, from 30 plus years....

counterfeits?....geez a subculture of stacking, well collecting...

sad stuff, it happens with most all of item assets, with high value, from antiques to Zulu carvings....but some of these coin fakes are of common stuff, must be profitable and cheap to produce...

now why did my dad and my grandfather not have any fakes in their personal stashes? if they do i missed it so far... why, time fly's by, progress and greed, yikes !!...

it's challenging at best with the degree of the way some of these fakes look and feel and meet criteria...

hey it's the season to remember and reflect, isn't it?... maybe a small act of random kindness is what ya need, that is, need to do.....LOL, everybody be safe and prosperous and pay it forward when ya can, which really is anytime..

INCT

[PassTheGold]

The fake does appear to be more rounded.,

I understand weight, dimensions, and ring but was the fake magnetic?

[jackrabbit]

Don't know if it would do any good, but why don't we all send a letter/email to our congressmen. Maybe ripping off branded goods is certainly illegal, but this is counterfeiting a US government minted coin. Would be difficult to get those guys operating the Beijing back alley operation, but these are being sold here. If the sellers were made to reveal their sources, and prosecuted to the full extent of existing laws, seems to me like we could do something about this.

Ha this is so FUNNY! There are so many anti-government people on this forum, you seriously think they are going to want the government to help?

[ParlayTheHard8]

Ha this is so FUNNY! There are so many anti-government people on this forum, you seriously think they are going to want the government to help?

Maybe you're right - grousing is much easier.

[rletlow]

I know we are not supposed to post links, but I have found a site online where you can order almost any fake coin/bar you want.

If the mods give me the OK I will post the site I found.

It is AMAZING the selection they have.