I've been tinkering around the net lately and found dozen of photos of counterfeits. The most notable to me are the Chinese-based counterfeits being produced in very large amounts. As you can imagine these range from crude junk to very deceptive recreations.

Ebay is a large venue for these coins and are sold as a replica/copy. All the dealers claim to have their coins stamped as such so they can be sold and imported into the US. Obviously the stamping occurs after the initial strike from the set of dies.

I will give them this much at least, most sell them as replicas and have them stamped so no one can pass them as the real thing. To me this is fine and dandy and just like any other replica coin company. However, the people who sell the ones without a stamp are giving criminals a chance to pass a counterfeit off as a legitimate coin, and I don't condone that. A novice could easily be out hundreds of dollars because of this.

I've also seen counterfeiting work of a lesser scale from all over the world and a vast amount of contemporary counterfeits.

I think it would be a good idea to post some photos of counterfeits and "replica" coins to use as a reference guide. I will do my best to point out details from the photos I post to use as die markers in an attempt to help educate everyone best I can. If you collect counterfeits, honestly I feel you are welcome to them, but I would hate to be the one who paid lots of money for a coin that turns out to be a fake.

I would also like to enlist everyone else who has a photo or has found a photo of a coin I did not cover.

Here are a few things I've noticed so far. (All photos are of copies/replicas/counterfeits and are from the internet, most from eBay) These die markers are on every coin I've seen, both reeded and lettered edge. This doesn't mean these are the only dies they use, just the most commonly sold ones on the internet.

All the draped bust small eagle copies of this die set(1795-1797) have an extra curl of hair near the date. Also note that these appear to be struck within a collar which wasn't introduced until something like the 1830's. The denticles should go all the way to the edge, but form a rim instead.

1795 Has an additional die blob at the end of the circled star.

1796 die breaks at stars

1797 die crack across chest

1798 missing bottom of L and bust is too small

1799 die break at rim and on nose (wart-like)

Better 1799 die crack in Liberty and funky shaped star

Reverse better 1799 pitted die leaves raised marks and F looks funky

Rim of better 1799 is worked fairly well but appears to have a beveled rim (all modern coins struck in a collar and ran through an edger has this effect)

1800 doubled B and E odd star and odd shaped 00 in 1800

Rim seems too perfectly lettered and doesn't appear to be deep enough into coins surface.

Here are some counterfeit die variations of trade dollars I've spotted. They use what appears to be different dies for each obverse but I've noticed only a few variations within the reverse dies. Most of these may be the same die that has been retooled or something, but I've noted a few things that standout.


S mint with a die clash behind the S. It appears to be a draped bust die, not a trade dollar die from the shape of the clashing. I wonder if the mixed them up and then realized it and quickly removed the coin blank, resulting in the clashed die. No clue.

Pitted dies leave raised marks on coins

O is doubled, dot above N, missing lower portion of ribbon

Die crack by F and N, blob near rim

Die crack

Rim blob

Pitted dies leave raised marks on coins

Die gouge and chunk missing from O, crack by E

Great info, Vfox -- thanks a lot!

Wasn't there something about the eagle's eye that is different on the genuine vs. the usual counterfeits? I remember reading about it on one of the other coin newsgroups (rec.collecting.coins, probably) but have no idea where that information came from, and I can't remember the details.

Yes! very good stuff! think we need to pin this thread?

I'm not sure. I'd also hope that this is a useful guide to anyone looking to purchase any of these coins, so if it gets stickied I'd be happy. I have many more images I'm looking through as well, so expect more soon.

Here is a shot of a legit trade dollar for comparison.

Is that yours?

Haha, I wish, it's just a photo I found online. Mine in my omnicoin is like a F+ or so.

Okay, here are some more photos I've looked through and found die markers for. These are generally poorly made fakes, except the two seated dollars, which are very well made, but show a generally weak strike overall.

Die scratches, die breaks, doubled star, rim blobs

Notch in S, die scratches

Rim blob, denticles turn into little circles then into denticles again

Flat bottom to O, die gouge, small mark in A, ribbon weak/missing in places

This is a horrible fake, odd nose, multiple die scratches, weak lettering

Weak lettering, multiple die scratches, edge design missing in spots, lumpy lettering/die

Multiple large die gouges

Die gouges, Large die crack in shield, G partially missing

Click to view attachment

I just like to share, I came across this site where there are useful facts, comparisons and images of real and counterfeit coins.

Silver Coins


I found it very useful as I am a newbie coin collector, and do not know as much about coin technicalities and such. I was almost lured to buying old coins from ebay. Good thing I came across this site.

There is nothing wrong with buying old coins from ebay, you just have to be very careful. And remember you can always ask us about an auction before you bid and we can give you our opinions. This photo reference is intended to help people figure out what coin is legit and what coin is counterfeit over the internet. In hand most of these coins just look "off" but online they look really good.

Welcome to CoinPeople btw!

Welcome to CoinPeople!

I'd like to second what Vfox said, but have added bold emphasis to his words. Some people here have apparently bid on an item, won the auction, then try to refuse payment based on what they learned here on the forum AFTER they had already won the auction! Needless to say, this isn't fair, neither to us nor to the buyer or seller.