Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Fakes of US coins getting better?

F. Michael Fazzari, “Chinese Fakes Get Harder to Spot Over Time”:
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Today, excellent copies of U.S. Trade dollars and Flowing Hair dollars have been reported. From what I have seen, a "second generation" of these fakes is very deceptive.

While most Chinese counterfeits, such as the Morgan dollar illustrated here, will not pass inspection by a knowledgeable numismatist, those fakes often do. This is especially true when their surfaces are chemically altered or cleaned to simulate age.

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2 comments:

Robert J. said...

Non seqitur: I think this discovery would qualify as a "hoard":

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-06/10/content_11520297.htm

Kevin said...

To tell the truth, I have been getting pretty soured on coin collecting due the rampent fraud. Whether its good copies of American stuff or tooled ancients (some good, some not), it really kills the fun. I can spot obvious problematic coins but high quality fakery can be pretty deceiving. How can you collect when you are in constant fear of fraud? What's the future of collecting when a professional grading service or someone like David Sear is needed to sort things out?