These were inherited kind of. One of my closest friends inherited 4 of these including the double eagle from his Grandmother when she passed away about 5 years ago. My buddy remembers her getting them in the 1970's. She had these and quite a bit of silver dollars and other misc coins. I did some work on their house and got paid with some of the coins and then ended up buying the rest of the silver etc. The1885 S Half Eagle I inherited from my Father when he passed away.
It was a shock. When I saw the results I could not believe it.
I had weighed the coins and measured with a caliper when I got them and I feel like they were correct. Its been a while though and I cant remember the details. Kind of knowing the history of the coins made me feel comfortable purchasing them raw. I guess false confidence.
I will examine them closely when they get back and post all weight and sizes.
I have spoken with my friend who I got them from. He is as shocked as me and has volunteered to reimburse me if I cant get my money back from gold content.
I have read about the The Fisch Detector and will consider this as an option. I have also purchased the book: Us Gold Counterfeit Detection Guide. Hopefully this will help me understand where I went wrong,
I will buy raw gold again once I become familiar with what to look for. For now I will stick with NGC or PCGS graded items.
I will check for the omega sign. I still can't believe they are not real. They are different dates and different denominations. And to my (what appears to be very untrained eyes) they look great. I only had a graded 1913 half eagle to compare the 1908 that I submitted and it looked right to me. I even showed 4 of them to a local coin dealer and he suggested I submit them based on their condition. It never crossed neither of our mines they were not genuine coins.
I will check for the omega sign. I still can't believe they are not real. They are different dates and different denominations. And to my (what appears to be very untrained eyes) they look great. I only had a graded 1913 half eagle to compare the 1908 that I submitted and it looked right to me. I even showed 4 of them to a local coin dealer and he suggested I submit them based on their condition. It never crossed neither of our mines they were not genuine coins.
Thanks Joe
I would recommend that you research the Omega counterfeiter's work more thoroughly, and I can only provide you with an overview. While one of his most famous coins is the 1907 high relief St. Gaudens, he produced other dated Saint-Gaudens double eagles, $10 gold eagles (1913-P and 1926-P), and some $3 gold coins (including the 1874, 1878, and 1882). While these dates and mint marks are the most common, I believe that there are others.
Edited by coinman_23885 (03/08/1202:00 AM)
_________________________
-Kenny
Areas of Interest: Original classic gold coins from the Southern mints (New Orleans, Charlotte, and Dahlonega); Carson City minted Morgan Dollars, early copper; high end, quality U.S. type coinage; proof like and deep mirror prooflike coinage; toners including Peace Dollars and classic gold; and cameo and deep/ultra cameo proof coins from 1936-1942.
I picked the coins up at the post office today and they were all in the dreaded body bags with a not genuine label.
I weighed them and used a caliper to measure. Every measurement was accurate. A couple of the weights were off by .01 but I credited that to my cheap digital scales.
After I measured I did an 18K gold acid test and they all passed that. I did not have any 22K solution.
I will probably take them to a gold/coin dealer for more insight. I am about to look for any omega signs hidden on the coins.
I still can not believe they are not real coins.
I did notice one weird thing on the eagle. The stars around the rim are not perfectly straight. Not much but I notice a slight curve. With nothing to compare to it is hard for me to tell.
Registered: 08/08/02
Posts: 7440
Loc: The Crossroads of America
That is very surprising, nothing on that double eagle screamed counterfeit to me, though they were small scans. It would be very educational to compare them to a known genuine coin and see where the differences lie.
My guess would be this is not an Omega counterfeit, he was known mostly for 1907 HR coins, though as someone else said there are known examples of some other dates, but those are likely extremely rare (you're more likely to have a real one than an Omega!). If they are all fakes, they are most likel middle eastern fakes as they were done in large numbers in the 1960s converting regular gold at $35 an ounce into something worth more like $50 an ounce to collectors. They were done in mostly the correct alloy, so likely you'll just have bullion from these pieces.
Very sorry to hear about your bad luck, but hopefully it will be a real learning experience for you.
_________________________
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is it’s natural manure - Thos. Jefferson
"I think our coinage is artistically of atrocious hideousness." Theodore Roosevelt, December 27, 1904.
Registered: 08/08/02
Posts: 7440
Loc: The Crossroads of America
Looking at the coin again, there is a clear issue with the drapery lines to the left of the date, notice the very bold folds in the drapery, on a genuine coin they are never that bold (they look almost like 5 parallel lines). On the reverse, the lettering at the top looks just a little off, particularly the second A in America and the Y in Twenty. 20/20 hindsight I guess, but if goes to show the dangers of buying raw gold when you don't have a lot of experience.
My guess this is a middle eastern counterfeit and very well done at that.
_________________________
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is it’s natural manure - Thos. Jefferson
"I think our coinage is artistically of atrocious hideousness." Theodore Roosevelt, December 27, 1904.
They were done in mostly the correct alloy, so likely you'll just have bullion from these pieces.
If the pieces are of the correct alloy (or very close), then you still have a $1600 to $1700 bullion coin.
_________________________
-Kenny
Areas of Interest: Original classic gold coins from the Southern mints (New Orleans, Charlotte, and Dahlonega); Carson City minted Morgan Dollars, early copper; high end, quality U.S. type coinage; proof like and deep mirror prooflike coinage; toners including Peace Dollars and classic gold; and cameo and deep/ultra cameo proof coins from 1936-1942.
