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Detecting Counterfeits: Wrong reverse for a fake dollar

Counterfeit Trade dollars have plagued the hobby forever, writes Michael Fahey in his “Detecting Counterfeits” column, and no end to their production is in sight. Fortunately for collectors, some counterfeiters are not too careful when matching obverse and reverse dies.

Michael describes a counterfeit 1877-CC Trade dollar that is of pretty decent quality in execution, except that it has the wrong pairing of obverse and reverse dies. The counterfeiter selected a reverse die of the wrong subtype for an 1877-dated obverse, creating a pairing that the Carson City Mint never struck.

Learn more about detecting this counterfeit in Michael’s column, found only in the print and digital editions of the Dec. 10 issue of Coin World.

Found in Rolls: Searching for Eisenhower dollars

In his “Found in Rolls” column, Bill O'Rourke offers some tips on getting banks to save you rolls of Eisenhower dollars to search through. He begins by advising collectors carry one of the coins with to show bank tellers, who may never have encountered one of the coins.

Bill also details the results of his recent search through several rolls of Eisenhower dollars. While he found nothing rare, he did find an example of every Eisenhower dollar issued for circulation by date and Mint mark, including both reverse versions of the Bicentennial coins.

To learn more of Bill’s tips, read his column in the Dec. 10 issue, available only to subscribers to the print or digital editions.

Coin Values Spotlight: The first big State quarters “varieties”

When the State quarter dollars program made its debut in 1999, millions of Americans began collecting them, including many who had not collected coins before. Longtime collectors, however, also searched for interesting die varieties, but it was not until late in 2004 that something exciting turned up.

In my “Coin Values Spotlight,” I write about the discovery of two “Extra Leaf” variants of the 2004-D Wisconsin quarter dollar. Their discovery sparked a spirited search for them by collectors and dealers, quickly rising premiums, and an official investigation by Mint Police and the Treasury Office of Inspector General.

To learn more about these fascinating coins, see my column in the Dec. 10 issue of Coin World.