Fake 1893 Columbian Exposition Half

[beauanderos]

Well, dang. Can't even trust auctioneers and coin shops to recognize these fakes?! Just received an AU "1893 Columbian Exposition Half dollar" from a Proxibid auction that was selling items offered by Liberty Coins in Illinois. Paid $19.50

Coin is an OBVIOUS fake. Nickel colored, too thick, clangs when you ring test it. Doesn't even look remotely authentic to me, but I am going to take it to the LCS for a second impartial opinion on Tuesday. Have written to the coin shop who listed this item explaining the situation and stating that I will be seeking a refund. If they are unresponsive, I will have to seek a charge-back on my credit card. So much for using auctions as a potential means of scoring some decent coins.

Lots of fakes surfacing, folks. Be SURE about what you're buying.

[68Camaro]

Ray, the fake silver magnet... If you'll just suck 'em all up for us Ray the rest of of won't have the problem!

[beauanderos]

Ray, the fake silver magnet... If you'll just suck 'em all up for us Ray the rest of of won't have the problem!

Yeah... well just weighing them isn't cutting it anymore. Try ring testing everything you have and you might be surprised at the results. Combine one part Greshams's Law with one part silver shortage, add one part unethical silver sellers on ebay. Mix well with shady buyers who are willing to catch and release fakes... and fakes in the market will quickly become a MAJOR problem. I have recently been finding one or two bad coins in every $50 face lot I acquire.

[68Camaro]

I've been ring testing anything not from a mint... Have some magnets on the way from Nate so I can implement the diamagnetic test

[beauanderos]

Well, took it to the LCS yesterday, it was SLOW... in there, the place was abandoned. No silver to be seen in the display cases except numies. The "expert" had time to be chatty and compared MY half to one of his ( which I wanted to point out to him I thought was a fake as well, but ...) He declared mine authentic, saying the discoloration (nickel colored) was due to someone having cleaned it. Both coins clunked when you dropped them, and the planchets looked thicker than a normal half, more like a fat proof modern half (even thicker).

So what do I know? Are even experts fooled by these? Or was I off-base.

Still looks, sounds fake to me. His too.

Arrrrggggh!

[68Camaro]

Did you do the magnetic test yet?

FYI - got my magnet from Nate today and it works... Definitely a different response to silver than anything else.

[beauanderos]

I have some neodymium (or whatever) magnets, little ones. Are you referring to something different? I would just like some kind of mounting bracket/holder to do ring tests with so I didn't keep knocking the danged coin onto the ground.

[68Camaro]

I have some neodymium (or whatever) magnets, little ones. Are you referring to something different? I would just like some kind of mounting bracket/holder to do ring tests with so I didn't keep knocking the danged coin onto the ground.

In one of the fake coin threads someone posted a YouTube video of two types of magnetic detectors. One hangs the magnet on a cord and swings it over the coin without touching it.

[Treetop]

Awhile back when someone posted a link to fake 90% I checked the site for commemoratives because I always figured they were less likely to be faked. didnt find any commem fake dollars but they had fakes of several types of halves including the exposition half. they looked pretty good in the pics anyway.