By Jack D. Young, Early American Coppers (EAC) for CoinWeek …..
In my previous CoinWeek article on these 1833 “N-5” counterfeits, I cited the genuine source coin used to create the dies for the fakes. That example has a couple of key “attribution” defects that should be unique only to it but were transferred into the false dies:
In the article, I show several counterfeit examples of various dates attributed to this source die pairing – including a friend’s “1824”; dies were created, and dates were added to create the “family” of fakes:
They also created counterfeit off-center errors based on the same N-5! My example:
Mine was almost sold at a major coin show but was caught in time and forwarded to me! There was a “higher grade” example offered for sale by a major internet seller but the sale was ended after the seller was notified. I highlighted a couple of common marks between the two:
I did make an error in the article showing my 1827. As serious students/ collectors of the series know, the 1833 N-5 and 1833 N-3 obverses and reverses look much alike, and I made a rookie mistake, as the obverse has the fake 1833 N-5 divot, but the reverse is from an 1833 N-3:
Comparison image of the 1833 N-5 reverse of the genuine source coin on the left and a counterfeit 1833 N-3 reverse on the right:
So, to make matters worse, they are mixing and matching the dies, as they created this off-center error version dated 1827 as well but with the N-5 reverse.
So, the counterfeiters are creating new die pairs, maybe to make this all the more difficult for collectors to discern!
A recent 1826 large cent’s authenticity was just questioned in a recent post on a popular online coin forum and it also appears to match the N-5/ N-3 counterfeit die pairing:
These continue to get better and more deceptive to folks not well versed in the series. I actually added a couple of examples to my collection recently, including this “1833 N-5”:
And this not-ready-for-prime-time counterfeit of the 1824 cent; should be pretty easy based on this review to tell “what’s wrong with this picture?”!
Yes, it’s still a jungle out there. I continue to report on new developments as we become aware of them and appreciate the responses and support from all of my friends in the hobby!
Best Regards,
–Jack D. Young, EAC 5050
MORE Articles on Counterfeit Coins by Jack D. Young
So my question is this so they say to listen to a coins ring when dropped it should sound like a bell ring lasting a brief second, what is your opinion on this matter? True or not true also i have a pic of a coin can you tell me if you think its real or not from your opinion and why please only answer if you have some experience here thank you!
After over 50 articles in several different venues on the subject I may well not have the experience necessary to answer as you suggested! You can always take it in to your local coin shop for a hands on opinion.
Packed full of useful information, providing a valuable resource to early copper enthusiasts