Finding Fake Coins: Be Aware of Scammers

Making fake coins and changing real coins is a big problem for coin investors, needing serious attention. A fake coin is a coin made to trick people, pretending to be a real coin made by a government mint.

An alteration is a change made to a real coin, for example changing the date or adding a mint mark, aiming to make the coin value higher in the market.

Protecting your money requires knowing the signs of fakes and changes, also knowing the simple ways to find these technical errors.

Cast Fakes

This is one of the oldest ways to make fakes, usually having the lowest quality.

• How They Are Made: A mold is used, taking the shape from a real coin, and hot metal is poured into this mold.

On the surface of a cast coin, small air holes are almost always visible, which are formed when the hot metal cools down. Upon closer inspection, the surface looks like sand or small pebbles, rather than a smooth coin obtained by minting.

Because the metal fills the mold but does not get strong pressure, the picture on a cast fake is softer than on a real coin. Corners of letters, numbers, and picture parts look round or unclear.

If the coin was poured using a two-part mold, a thin line can be on the edge, where fake makers try to clean it, still leaving marks or an uneven surface.

The edge of a cast fake often has marks from pouring, or it is different from the real coin, for example being smooth when it should have lines.

Struck Fakes

Fake metal tools are used, made by hand-cutting or using a special electric machine. The metal blanks are hit by the fake dies, just like in real coin making.

Technical Mistakes

Looking closely at the picture parts, you can see lines or marks not normal for the real coin, showing the dies were cut by hand or fixed later.

Fake dies made with the electric machine can leave very thin, straight lines or small bumps on the coin surface, needing a strong magnifying glass to see them.

Though the makers try to copy the real coin, they often use metal that is too light or too heavy, causing the weight or thickness to be wrong compared to the real coin specifications. People check this using accurate scales and measuring tools.

Struck fakes often have a poor-quality edge, because making a complex edge ring needs expensive machinery, causing the edge lettering to be uneven, blurry, or having wrong space between letters.

Changing Real Coins

Alterations are harder to find because they start with a real coin, with the goal being to change one thing to make it look like a rare, expensive coin.

Changing the Date, Mint Mark, or Face Value

These are the most common and profitable changes.

• How They Are Made: People use cutting tools, drilling, or adding metal to change the numbers in the date, for example, making a “9” into an “8,” or adding/changing the mint mark.

Signs to Find Them

The biggest sign is damage to the original coin field near the changed part. You can often see tiny scratches or cleaning marks around the altered number or letter, these marks looking different from the normal wear on the rest of the coin.

The new parts can look too sharp or too soft compared to the original design, showing under a magnifying glass a difference in the height or shape of the design.

If metal was added, you might see marks from heating or changing metal color under the coin’s natural patina in the changed area.

Removing or Adding Parts

This means taking away parts making the coin less valuable, or adding rare features.

• How They Are Made: A small, sharp knife, a needle, or a cutting tool is used to remove bad parts or a cutting tool is used to add new parts.

Technical Mistakes

Where a part was removed, for example a small bump or mistake, a smooth, "dead" area is left. If the coin has a patina, this place will have a different metal color and texture.

When small things like extra stars or dots are added, you can see tool marks under a magnifying glass, showing the element was pressed or cut in, making the lines or corners uneven, not matching the real struck style.

Making Condition Better

A real coin with mistakes can be "improved" to get a higher grade.

• How They Are Made: Scratches, nicks, or rust are removed by rubbing, cleaning, or using strong liquids.

Technical Mistakes

The natural color layer is broken in the cleaned or rubbed areas. The coin might look too bright or have color that is not the same all over.

• Rubbing leaves many very thin, straight scratches, not from normal use, but caused by the cleaning material moving, seeing these "hairlines" under a light angle, especially on the coin field.

Too much cleaning or rubbing makes the highest parts of the design softer, making the details look less clear, not matching the stated grade.

Fake Patina

Copying the nice, natural color layer that makes the coin more valuable to collectors.

• How They Are Made: The coin is put with chemicals or heat to make the metal change color fast, creating a nice-looking color layer.

Technical Mistakes

Fake patina often looks too bright, too strong, or has wrong color changes. Real patina grows slowly, usually being more even and deep.

Fake patina can gather in places it should not, for example covering the highest design points where real color usually wears off, or showing clear edges, not happening with real metal change.

Finding Fakes

Check the flat parts of the coin field for cast fake or tiny scratches — the real field must be smooth, showing the coin's shine or natural color.

Check the smallest parts like eyes, hair, and letter corners. On a real struck coin, these parts are clear, having sharp corners. On cast fakes, they look soft.

Check the area around the date and mint marks. Any very small cleaning marks, added metal, or change in the field texture shows an alteration.

• Real metal tools wear out and make the same small mistakes on many coins, like cracks or bad centering. If your coin is real, it must have the same mistakes as other real coins made with the same die. 

If it has different mistakes, it means a fake die was used.

Carefully compare the shape of the letters, the size of the numbers, and where the parts are placed compared to pictures of real coins from good sources. Fake coins often have small but constant style mistakes, not matching the official style.

Checking Weight and Size

Compare the coin's real weight with the standard weight, allowing for a small difference, and checking the weight of other real coins of the same type. Fakes made from metals with different density, for example, fake gold made from tungsten or copper, nearly always have the wrong weight.

Measure the coin's width and thickness. Cast fakes can have unstable sizes. Struck fakes can have wrong thickness because the metal blank was wrong.

Scan the coin through the coin scanner app → find all possible information → pay attention to whether the weight matches

Checking Metal Composition

The metal mix of a fake is often different from the real coin, especially for valuable metal coins.

• Compare the checked metal mix with the coin's official metal mix. For example, if the coin must be 90% silver and 10% copper, but the check shows 85% silver and 15% nickel, this points to a fake.

If the fake is made with the right metal, this check does not help much, but with other checks, it gives a full understanding.

Checking the Edge

On real coins, the edge lines or lettering are deep, correct shape, and straight. On fake coins, the lines are often uneven, weak, or show marks from being worked by hand. Edge lettering can be off-center, having badly shaped letters or wrong space between them.

Magnet Test

Use a strong magnet. If a gold, silver, copper, or bronze coin (non-magnetic metals) sticks to the magnet, it shows iron or nickel is present, this being a possible sign of a fake.

Conclusion

Finding fakes and alterations needs people using a mix of technical knowledge, accurate tools, and comparing with real coin information.

Looking closely with a magnifying glass is the main way, showing surface mistakes like pouring holes, tool marks, or field changes.

Checking the weight and size helps to be sure the coin meets the physical standards.

Looking at the edge and checking the metal mix gives more proof. Protecting your money in coins means you must always learn, always use all technical tools, and always use expert help for expensive coins.