Hi All, At my coffee shop today, I was handed this 1894 Morgan Silver dollar by a customer. I believe it was minted in Carson City, but cannot find any record of these being minted in CC. It is in ok shape, definitely not the best. I was curious how much it might go for. I don't think the customer realized what they were getting rid of. The pictures aren't the best sorry. Thanks, Kevin
I think the customer realized he was getting rid of a fake coin. There were no 1894 Carson City Morgan's minted. Only Philadelphia, San Fransisco and New Orleans. And Edited to add... I doubt the coin would go for anything really.
It is either a counterfeit or the mintmark has been added, but I can't tell from those photos taken at an angle. Try to take some photos perpendicular to the plane of the coin. Chris
Yeah. Very bizarre. He wasn't even concerned parting with it, which is making me believe more and more that it is indeed fake. Out of curiosity, what are fake coins like this usually made out of? Anyone?
China has a white metal they use for counterfeit silver. You can buy many wrong dates on eBay. I wonder why they make them?
A guy in my local club bought a complete Morgan set in 2 Dansco albums. Every date and mint including the 95PF. Every coin much too brite like chrome, each with a small 'copy' stamp on rev side. That was last year, it was on ebay and he got the winning bid about 15$ above the retail price of the 2 Dansco albums. The Danscos were what he was really after. A fun conversation item.
I've never seen a Morgan with such rust spots on it. Either the metal is iron and the plating has worn away to allow rusting. Or the coin is copper and the plating is flaking away. Definitely a counterfeit. If you see this customer again, I'd call the police. Using counterfeit coins is the same as using counterfeit $20 bills......it's illegal!
yea, but its quite an odd way to use counterfeit money. this guy is either a collector and had to of known it was fake. or he came across it somehow. even non collectors know some coins are worth good money and most old coins are worth above face. so before spending it on a coffee i am sure he looked into it. after looking into it, you would have to of known it was fake because of the mint mark! well i guess if he was not a collector, i doubt he would know the "CC" was a mint mark. so he probably just figured out what kinda coin it was or typed in 1894 dollar coin. that should of brought up that its worth a good amount of money and noway is it worth the price of a coffee! he probably took it to a coin shop and they told him it was fake. i would definitely say something to him at least. what if you sold it on ebay or somewhere as a real coin? or not have looked it up and tried to deposit it and get in trouble for it being counterfeit?
The most common Chinese counterfeit Silver Dollars are magnetic. This '94-CC Morgan appears to be one of the common Chinese counterfeits. Check it with a magnet. So why do the Chinese make fantasy pieces like this? Because when they make their dies they copy the obverse and reverse of several genuine pieces. They end up with a bunch of obverse dies with various dates and a bunch of reverse dies with various (or no) mintmarks. When they strike their counterfeit coins they pull out an obverse die and a reverse die taking no care as to whether that die pairing was used by the Mint. Similarly, they take no care to use the correct reverse die for Seated Liberty Dollars. I have seen several pre-1866 SL Chinese counterfeit dollars With Motto and 1866 and later Without Motto. For example, I have an 1849-S With Motto Seated Liberty Dollar. Not only should a SL Dollar struck in 1849 NOT have a Motto, there was not a branch mint in San Francisco until several years later.
Just a thought They certainly apply themselves to making these fakes and they are made with the right composition of silver with the right weight and as another thread reminds us in fake TPG service holders. Sometimes it is a risk you have to measure. I got a 1889CC I was pretty sure was fake but it came back authenticated. Risk management has become part of collecting.
If you look closely at the reverse pics, you can see rust spots. Silver does not rust. That is very likely a Chinese counterfeit, made of a cheap steel alloy.
The Chinese make their better counterfeits using blanks of the correct composition, weight and dimensions. These counterfeits are of a much higher quality and sell for much higher prices. The common Chinese counterfeits, which are usually priced very cheap, are almost always not of the correct composition, weight and dimensions. These low-quality Chinese counterfeits are generally sold to tourists and often end up on eBay.
Was the customer by chance a Chinese gentleman? Since China is the main producer of such frauds Its actually worth keeping to show as an example of counterfeit Morgans
