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Scammers have counterfeited coins since ancient times using base metals, diluting precious metal content, reducing weight and diameter, altering dates, adding or deleting mintmarks and making cast copies of struck coins.

This article documents factors that continue to undermine numismatics, discussing top counterfeit coins and how to detect them.

Why is this so important? China exports 100,000 counterfeit coins per month with the capacity now of producing millions more per year, typically sold via Temu and Etsy whose buyers then try to sell them on social media or online auctions.

Before we share details on detecting counterfeits, here’s a history lesson so that you know the current state of the compromised market.

Gold to Goldfish

Before internet, distributing counterfeits took time and effort with many showing up in pawn shops, flea markets, garage sales and estate auctions. Some scammers tried without much luck to sell to coin shops. On occasion, they partnered with unscrupulous coin companies to distribute their fake products.

But there were problems.

In the 1980s and 90s, tens of thousands of hobbyists often read numismatic books and magazines, belonged to coin clubs and attended seminars at coin shows. They were informed. Internet was supposed to educate hobbyists worldwide. Instead, it undercut and then put out of business hundreds of brick-and-mortar shops, eliminating local experts.

Internet eased distribution problems because counterfeiters in such countries as China, Eastern Europe and the Middle East could identify and partner with U.S.-based sellers on eBay and other venues, hiding their origins. This occurred as reading levels plummeted in the United States. In the late 1980s, literacy reached a high of 96%. Now it hovers in the mid to high 70s percentile.

As experienced numismatists know, the key to coin collecting is the ability focus to examine condition, flaws and errors. Many lack those skills now.

In the 1970s, attention spans averaged 30 seconds. It the 1990s, it dropped to 15 seconds, falling again in 2000 to 12 seconds. By 2015, it dropped to 8 seconds, below that of your average gold fish, according to Time magazine.

Counterfeiters took advantage of plummeting literacy rates and attention spans. They could easily scam new collectors who lacked numismatic knowledge and just wanted to score an expensive coin at bargain prices. That’s the ruse of internet.

Then click-baiters diluted what little knowledge was left.

Now a new phenomenon is happening. Collectors purchase fakes from online markets and join Facebook groups, showing off their cheap wares and arguing with experienced collectors about authenticity. Some don’t care whether their fakes are genuine or not, as long as they have them in their possession and can impress others online or in person, showing their fantastical scores.

They buy these fakes from China without questioning how those sellers happened upon hordes of rare coins. Authenticity now is in the eye of the myopic beholder.

One of the telltale signs of a Chinese fake is their difficulty in using the correct font when placing their counterfeits in PCGS or NGC holders. They also name the series. The only time grading companies do that is when two coins from different series were minted in the same year, as the 1921 Morgan and 1921 Peace dollar.

Here is easy counterfeit detection:

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Another issue with Chinese fakes concerns whether they use the correct reverse. For instance, this coin purports to be an 1889-CC Morgan, a valuable coin. But it should have a rounded breast on the eagle and slanted top feather.

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Popular Counterfeits

The most difficult fakes to detect are struck coins, using faux dies and alloyed or base metal planchets. The striking mimics the process used by the U.S. Mint, usually resulting in smooth or blurred devices because their machinery is inferior. Edges are particularly difficult to mimic, especially if they are reeded.

Here is an example of a base metal Morgan dollar that weighs 23.3 grams rather than 26.73 grams, according to its owner.

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It’s easier to make cast copies, pouring molten metal into a mold made from a real coin. Again, details and devices are imprecise and blurry, often with casting bubbles and uneven thickness.

Coins most apt to be bogus are key dates that spike in value and are relatively easy to fake, adding or deleting a mintmark or designer initials, or altering a date.

Authentic ones from PCGS are displayed below.

The 1909-S VDB Lincoln cent is among the most frequently faked coins. You can take an inexpensive 1909 cent and add an “S” and “V.D.B” initials.

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The 1916-D Mercury is an ultra-rarity with only 264,000 minted. All the counterfeiter had to do is acquire an inexpensive 1916 dime and add a mintmark.

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The 1914-D cent is simple to fake by adding a mintmark to the 1914 cent or altering the first 4 of a 1944-D cent.

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Then there is the key date 1922 no mint mark cent. These were actually struck in Denver. A Mint employee there over polished the dies, resulting in a weak “D” and then missing the “D.” All you need do is smooth by various means a better struck 1922-D, removing the mintmark.

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The 1909-S Indian head cent is one of only two Indian cents with mintmarks, the other being the 1908-S. Counterfeiters simply add an “S” to an inexpensive 1909-P.

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The same process of adding mintmarks is used for two of the most popular Morgan dollars, the 1889-CC (350,000 minted) and the 1893-S (100,000 minted).

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Detecting Fakes

If you suspect your coin is not genuine, it does help to consult an expert. There are many in Facebook coin groups, with my favorite being Jack Young’s “Fun with Fakes.”

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First, a little about Young, an engineer and counterfeit expert. He has worked as a consultant to the Secret Service and U.S. Senate Finance Committee and is a well-known numismatic and award-winning author.

If you doubted the introduction of this article about the unsuspecting newbie, join his group and see all the eBay fakes that people buy now directly from China.

Here’s one:

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To identify counterfeits, you need to read, just as Young and others have done to enhance their numismatic education. Many recommend the Red Book, or A Guide Book of United States Coins. You can also subscribe to educational numismatic sites such as Proxiblog.org.

Once you have learned from books, groups and websites, you need to master these detecting skills:

Visual inspection

Compare your coin to one graded by a top company, such as PCGS or NGC. I recommend PCGS Gold Shield coins with excellent TrueView photos that you can blow up and study. You can use a coin microscope to view the edges, dates and devices for strike evidence, looking for those casting bubbles or blurry details.

Here’s what I did to show the difference between a fake and real 1893-S Morgan dollar.

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Check Metal and Patina

Experienced hobbyists have looked at so many authentic coins that they easily identify base metal ones by the toning of the fields. They know the ping of silver by sound alone. They do not need a magnet to detect base metals, but beginners might purchase one. If it sticks, you’re stuck with a counterfeit.

What to Do if Scammed

If you have purchased a fake coin, contact the seller and return it. Even though eBay has attracted counterfeiters, you might be protected if returns are accepted or if you make a complaint to the company (frequently unsuccessful).

If you used PayPal, you could open a case there.

If you bought the coin from an online auction company, such as found on HiBid.com or LiveAuctioneers, you may not be able to return the coin because auctioneers will insist that all sales are final. Technically, selling a fake is illegal. But good luck threatening and then suing an auctioneer if you have agreed to their service terms. The best you might do is share the Hobby Protection Act, which states:

“The manufacture in the United States, or the importation into the United States, for introduction into or distribution in commerce, or the sale in commerce of any imitation numismatic item which is not plainly and permanently marked ‘copy,’ is unlawful and is an unfair or deceptive act or practice in commerce under the Federal Trade Commission Act.”

In any case, do not try to sell the coin. Take the coin out of hobby circulation and use it as an educational showpiece to enlighten others. You can also report your case to the U.S. Secret Service field office. Finally, join “Fun with Fakes” on Facebook and share your story so that others know the pitfalls of counterfeit coins.

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You can find more information about types, varieties, errors, grading, bidding and buying in Coin News Updated: The Essential Guide to Online Bidding. Please consider buying or gifting the work for a friend, as it underwrites this hobbyist blog. Thank you.