How do you tell counterfeit coins for sure?
 

I just got into gold and silver coins and my first purchases have come from Ebay. I received 7 SAE yesterday and I weighed them. I got a bunch of weight variations with a spread of 2.6 grains. The heaviest SAE was 485.0 grains and the lightest was 482.4 grains. Is it normal to have such a weight variations with SAE?

The SAE brochure says that each should weigh 31.103 grams which is 480 grains. I'm sure these coins are the real thing, as the thickness and diameter are what they should be. I ask this because I saw some GAE on Ebay that are being advertised as 24K gold PLATED. These are clearly not the real thing! I could see someone being ripped off.

Re: How do you tell counterfeit coins for sure?
 

Your best source would be the US mint. They could probably tell you what the weight variations would be. All in all I think it would be hard to counterfeit an american eagle.

Re: How do you tell counterfeit coins for sure?
 

Gold weighs nearly twice as much per volume as lead. You can't plate lead with gold and trick anybody. You might be able to get by a guy without a scale with gold plated platinum or tungsten. I would gladly accept the platinum, and tungsten is the epitomy of hard while gold is extremely soft.

Silver is a little trickier as it is just slightly lighter than lead. Any alloy used to make a plated silver fake coin would be mostly lead. Do the ring test. Lead is dull, silver sounds like a bell. Try it with some of your bullion and some lead fishing weights.

Re: How do you tell counterfeit coins for sure?
 

It depends, Read my thread about fake Chinese Pandas and you will see that Ebay is clearly awash with counterfeit coins.

http://goldismoney.info/forums/t3209...ese-panda.html

A magnet is a good start to see if they are fakes. Do they look nice and new or are they all scratched up and dirty?

heres an example of a fake U.S. Silver Eagle that someone paid 66 bucks for

http://cgi.ebay.com/Beautiful-1906-M...QQcmdZViewItem

Re: How do you tell counterfeit coins for sure?
 

MarinePride raises the same suspicion I had after buying my first 10 American Gold Eagles at a local PM dealer who has been in business at the same location for 25 years.

If the guys who are making Liberty Dollars can pour and stamp silver...they can pour and stamp gold. How hard could it be to make a mould of a real American Gold Eagle and then go into business making counterfits?

With American Gold Eagles selling for $40 over the spot price of gold...this is a no-brainer. Gotta be counterfits all over the place with that $40 spread. :-0

Re: How do you tell counterfeit coins for sure?
 

Wow, 40 bucks? I can get them for $10 over!

Geeze, those are some counterfeits in that other thread. That is the reason I still carry a pocket coin, nobody's going to pass off a silver plated copper or a junk metal coin on me. I'd really like a portable, pocketsize balance, but I guess a digital scale would work too.

Re: How do you tell counterfeit coins for sure?
 

I will bet you 7 SAE that they are legit if the dimensions are also that close, and if they look good

+or- 1.3 grains is not really much variation, and is roughly within what I have seen on GAE

A grain is the smallest weight measure there is. So when you get into .1 grains, you're getting down there.

Not sure what you mean by portable pocketsize balance, but some digital scales are electronic balances depending on their construction. I would be comfortable for these purposes with any digital scale that allowed calibration or had some form of auto-calibration

Re: How do you tell counterfeit coins for sure?
 

I've seen poured Canadain $1 coins (fakes came out in 1988, after the loonie came out in 1987). The detail is just not there. I think it's hard to get the quality when using a mould. The sharpness and shine of the coin doesn't come through. The flat surfaces were dull instead of crisp and reflective.

That being said, the general public was fine with them. They really made their way around before the cops put the word out. Plus, with a few scratches and some tarnish they look a lot like the real thing.

Re: How do you tell counterfeit coins for sure?
 

Big Rob it does say silver plated Panda, everyone should realize that it is not a silver panda, and I love the 1906 morgan that shows a walking liberty, boy was that person dumb.........

Re: How do you tell counterfeit coins for sure?
 

Gosh Beav.... a grain difference IMHO is nothing! The fakes I have seen were GRAMS off the correct weight... like, 3-5 GRAMS. If I were to gues, and that is what I am doing, I would say that you have the real deal. Donate one to your front packet as a pocket piece next time ya go shoppin'...

Re: How do you tell counterfeit coins for sure?
 

Re: How do you tell counterfeit coins for sure?
 

How do you tell counterfeit coins for sure?

If it's not a bullion coin or made after 1964, or 1982 for pennies.

All paper money was counterfeited.

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