Spotting Morgan Dollar Fakes
Facts about Fakes looks at the most common deceptive Morgan Dollar fakes and alterations.
For most of my adult life, Morgan dollars have been the most popular coin to collect. This fact has not been lost on the criminal element of our world. Thus, counterfeits and different types of alterations have always affected collectors.
In the short space here, let’s eliminate chemical alterations, whizzing, and any degree of cleaning and focus on fakes. I’ll assume that most readers know what a genuine Morgan dollar should look like, so I’ll also eliminate the “junk” that fools non-collectors. Morgan dollars are 90 percent silver, not magnetic, not extremely thick and they are not granular or “fatty” in appearance. What is left to discuss are the deceptive fakes and alterations.
Interestingly, some of the most deceptive counterfeit dollars were made a long time ago (probably by a foreign government) and fooled numismatists for more than half a century. These coins are some of the “Micro O” specimens and their related family of fakes that researchers discovered by die links. These “contemporary” fakes can be listed on VAM World. It’s possible that more of these will be discovered in the future. Surprisingly, the fakes are worth more to some collectors than the genuine coins they mimic.
Aside from these counterfeits, I have seen a few die-struck counterfeit dollars that are even close to the appearance of a genuine coin, but the experience of the examiner determines the veracity of that statement. Presently, what I see using a stereomicroscope confirms that the quality of newly made, struck counterfeits is improving every year.
Altered dollars are more commonly encountered. Coins with added hair detail or altered dates, like the one shown below, are less common than those with added mintmarks. I’ve worked with several numismatists who can look at the obverse rim of a Morgan dollar in decent condition and tell which Mint it was struck at 95 percent of the time. Most of these alterations are not deceptive to dollar specialists and professionals, but some require extra work to confirm that they are fakes. That’s most of us, so we must rely on other things we see.
Obviously, scratches or depressions around a mintmark should cause concern. Any coin with discoloration or a change in the texture of the surface around a mintmark, no matter how slight, like the photo below, should be checked. Authenticators often use a microscope to check the base of the mintmark, looking to see if there is a tiny seam left where the letter was not attached completely to the field. When doing this, we must be careful because wear or damage can flatten a genuine mintmark so that its upper half is pushed aside. Often, it’s enough to form a tiny space between the metal of the letter and the field, leaving a seam-like appearance on a genuine coin!
Vam World is an excellent source for checking for the location of mintmarks and other helpful diagnostics, such as the position of the date. The photo below shows a Carson City mintmark on an 1879 dollar that does not match any “CC” die. Sometimes, authenticators must rely on edge reed counts to detect excellently made alterations. This altered dollar had the reed count of an 1879 coin struck at the Philadelphia Mint.
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