By Jack Riley …..
An interesting eBay listing is the inspiration for this article. The listing showed a counterfeit 1873-S Trade Dollar with a coppery appearance that couldn’t be attributed to a known genuine die pair. Pictured below is the original listing with seller’s name withheld.
The coin in question is pictured here with closeups of four rather interesting die cracks. The die crack above star #1 and through the wrist/forearm standout even from a distance. While not being attributed to a genuine die pair that initially set the red flag for the listing, this “coin” is also severely underweight at 23.25 grams! This example shows the fully exposed copper core.
Additional edge view (top) compared to a genuine Trade Dollar (bottom).
Now onto the “Family”. A second example of the counterfeit 1873-S Trade Dollar surfaced on eBay within a few days of the original suspect that shared the same common markers but with an additional die break that stretches the entire obverse of the coin.
Further digging online provided three more examples that were displayed on various forums. Two with the major break and one without the major die break on the obverse – as well as the copper showing through on one example. One that ended up weighing .900 ounces or 25.51 grams was shown on a scale.
All five examples exhibit a similar mintmark position that is unknown to any 1873-S, as well as a defect through the word “OF” (not highlighted). Due to the mintmark position and being a Type 1 reverse, it is possible that the source coin to make these fakes is an 1875-S C-3 but that hasn’t been determined with any evidence as of now.
With so much of the action in the hobby happening online these days, all we have to go by a vast majority of the time are the pictures provided. Surely more of these will surface, and they may be of another date! As my good friend Jack Young says and stresses, “Attribution, attribution, attribution.”
Articles like this couldn’t be done without the help and knowledge of fellow numismatists! I want to thank everyone who encouraged the writing of this article, including fellow members of Jack Young’s Facebook group “Fun with Fakes (FwF)” and my Facebook group “Morgan Dollar VAM’s and discussion”.
-Jack Riley
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