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Here's what a fake 1801 dollar looks like.

15 posts in this topic

The first dead giveaway was the "S$1" in the upper right hand corner of the label. I have several Morgans in PCGS slabs and have seen many other genuine dollars in PCGS plastic and it only shows "$1". NGC uses the "S$1".

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I can understand that. The ones responsible for making these fake coins will always make fake coins. I believe we need to educate the uneducated on what to look for when it comes to these counterfeits. Everyone should do their research before purchasing coins, especially high value coins like these and when purchasing coins on Ebay. Im not saying Ebay is a bad place to buy or sell coins, but I highly doubt that a fake coin like this would even make it to the auction blocks at Heritage, Stacks, or any of the other reputable coin auction venues.

 

When a deal seems to good to be true, most of the time it usually is.

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Before reporting to eBay, I contacted the seller, looks like he has a good sales record on eBay. He says he bought the coin from a reputable, big dealer that had the coin for several years before he sold it to him.

I explained that it was fake, and waiting to see what he is going to do about it. And nice catch with the denom. Part of the label, deerefan. I noticed the font was a bit different, and the coin seemed off, but didn't see this part right away.

 

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For what it's worth, here is what a real 1801 silver dollar looks like. There are four die varieties known of this date.

 

1801DolO_zpsa5d3ea4e.jpg1801DolR.jpg

 

Aside from the fact that this thing is massively over graded (PCGS would never blow it this badly.) this thing is fairly scary.

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Aside from the fact that this thing is massively over graded (PCGS would never blow it this badly.) this thing is fairly scary.

 

The counterfeit in the ebay sale above is really convincing from the pictures. It looks really good. What are the possibilities that it is a genuine coin in a fake slab?

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The first dead giveaway was the "S$1" in the upper right hand corner of the label. I have several Morgans in PCGS slabs and have seen many other genuine dollars in PCGS plastic and it only shows "$1". NGC uses the "S$1".

PCGS uses S$1.

 

A big giveaway is that the bar code is wrong. Here is the fake slab and the correct bar code.

 

If you want to check the bar code use this site. It's really very easy.

 

Go to "advanced options" and choose "interleaved 2 of 5" for symbology. (You can also configure, width, height, etc.)

 

Then enter 3 lead zeros

The 6 digit PCGS coin number (pad with lead zeroes if it's shorter than 6)

Two more zeroes

The two digit grade

Another zero

The 8-digit cert# (pad with lead zeroes if less than 8).

 

Here's more detail on PCGS's code

 

So for this one enter 0000068930035021935223 and you will get the proper bar code below.

Lance.

 

barcode_zps541172f1.png

 

1801dollar_zpsb0adcbbb.jpg

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I went to the PCGS site to check the serial number. It came back no such number. I entered it twice with the same result.

 

Interesting...usually the crooks will use an already good number....

 

jom

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I went to the PCGS site to check the serial number. It came back no such number. I entered it twice with the same result.
Correct. It's a fake.

 

Often the counterfeiters will copy real cert numbers. But usually the bar codes are bogus. Sure, there are other subtle tips like font style. But the bar code is easy to generate and compare.

Lance.

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