Counterfeit resource thread

[willbrooks]

I thought it would be a good idea for us as a community to pool together a reference thread of all of the counterfeit cent dies of which we have photos. Let's fight back! We seem to often see the same "dies" posted, so it may not be far-fetched to believe we can compile a significant percentage of these fakes that are out there. I know we have some members that collect counterfeits, so a compilation could be an extremely valuable resource for us to reference.
Please refrain from posts that are superfluous. They will be removed. If you want to thank a post, please use the "thanks" button instead of creating unneeded extra posts. Please only post if you have photos that show a:
1) struck counterfeit
2) cast counterfeit
3) sand cast counterfeit
For the time being, Lincoln cents only please, but we may choose to expand this later. Also, please do not post your "altered" cents in this thread. Since those would each be uniquely made, it wouldn't be part of this focus. If you can, include some text about what focal points on the coin are "wrong." If you are unsure about a coin, please start a new thread about it first to get confirmation from the community before we move it into here. I hope we can build a valuable tool here together!

[willbrooks]

Mrmike916 gave permission to re-post his photos of this counterfeit 1915. You can see the pitted appearance and weak periphery common on a cast counterfeit. The unusual "doubling" on the motto I would assume is due to erosion of this "die" or a failure in its creation. The easiest thing to spot here is that the date on this specimen is all wrong, with the 5 being most noticeably the wrong font. This confused me a bit, because on a cast counterfeit, I would expect the font of the devices to be consistent with a genuine example, since a genuine example is used to create the mold. Interestingly, the 5 on this coin does closely resemble the 5 on a genuine 1955 cent, which is also a heavily counterfeited article. I wonder if a counterfeit 1955 die was re-tooled to make this one. Just speculation. Even without knowing the other diagnostics, this coin is easily spotted as a fake simply by knowing the correct font of the date for this year. Being familiar with these changes over the years is paramount in counterfeit detection. You can see the original thread about this coin HERE.

1915fake1.jpg

1915fake2.jpg

1915fake3.jpg

1915fake4.jpg

1915fake5.jpg

[pennies4pennies]

I am going to be posting some key date counterfeits. It will take some time. Sorry about some of the pics. My camera is giving me a hard time and also the Amscope.
Just about 60% of these coins were bought on ebay many years ago. The sellers are no longer around. They knew what they had and I did what I had to do to get these sellers removed from ebay.

The first one is a 1922 no D. It's plain to se it's a fake but not to a new comer to the coin world. You will see on the rev were they stamped it 2 times. The top left wheat stalk, the bottom right wheat stalk and by num. The date is a bad remake. Moderators feel free to add anything to these post.

[pennies4pennies]

This next one is a 1909S. Moderators feel free to chime in on this post. Add what you see on my post. I have a ton more to post. The next post will be a 1909S VDB.

[pennies4pennies]

1909S VDB. The next post will be a 1913S.

[pennies4pennies]

Bad job on the date. The next post will be 1911S.

[pennies4pennies]

The next post will be 1914D.

[pennies4pennies]

The next post will be the 1955 DDO and it's the worst counterfeit of Lincoln face I ever saw.

[pennies4pennies]

The worst counterfeit I have ever seen.

[trails]

Okay, counterfeits it is.

BJ Neff

[willbrooks]

FInally getting around to posting Chris' counterfeit 1943 copper cent. I believe this to be a sand-cast counterfeit. It has the typical pitting, weak devices, especially around the periphery, rounded devices, and lack of flow lines associated with this practice. Note the extreme weakness in many of the devices in random locations, including parts of the motto and legend, the middle of the reverse, and the hairline. There are no die flow lines. There may have been some polishing to hide this. This coin weighs in light at 3.02g. Chris, did you by chance take this one in for x-ray spectrometry?
The good photos are Chris', the washed out ones are not, lol.
cast counterfeit.jpgcastcounterfeit1.jpgcastcounterfeit2.jpg1943copper1.jpg

1943copper2.jpg1943copper3.jpg1943copper4.jpg1943copper5.jpg

[coop]

Different denominations:

Henning nickel. Note loop in the "R".

Nickel/Cent magicians coin. Made from two coins.
Sand cast:

Sand cast. Altered date. Should be 1986, show 1906

Rough sand cast quarter.

[liveandievarieties]

A note to participants- Frank & Coop- could you note any specific die gouges, tooling marks or other characteristics of these counterfeits? This is going to be an excellent reference with the help of everyone who is participating, thanks!

[mrmike916]

Counterfeit 1913 S

Yet another horrible counterfeit. This was up on eBay very recently. I don't think the seller knew it was a fake, and didn't have any more listed, so I don't think he is one to watch out for. I grabbed it with some other coins for just over $20, so in not in it too deep. I did know it was counterfeit when I bought it, and figured it would be a good learning piece for us at least. Not my area of expertise, but I believe this would be a sand cast. I've seen this reverse die a few times now. The DDR plus the gouge on the right side of the left wheat near U is a big giveaway. There are is a lot of silver specked impurities throughout the enite coin. I'm not sure if the change in color from red to goldish is impuries as well, or possibly a re color, or just enviro dammage.

[willbrooks]

You're right, Mike. That is the same reverse die used on your 1915 in the first post. And similarly to the other one, the date is the wrong font. Very interesting. Thanks for posting it.
On a side note, what in the world happened to all of Frank's pictures? Would you have any insight on what happened, Peter?