So much for our excitement over the complete set of Morgan Silver Dollars found in my late father-in-laws collection. After sending four in for grading and having them all returned as counterfeit I did a little investigating on my own. Yep, they're fake alright - the weight is wrong by about 3 grams on average for every coin. OK, I'll accept the fact that they are fakes but has a full set of fakes shown up before? I've seen the details on specific years and mint marks of known fake Morgan's but no where have I seen anything close to a list that includes every single coin. Well, apparently we've got them all; 1878 - 1904 & 1921.
I also believe, with my limited experience, that each of these coins are from the same forger. Sixteen of these coins, from sixteen different years, all have the same distinct die mark on the first "T" in STATES (see pic). Each of these coins also carries the "O" mint mark (New Orleans).
Five that do not exhibit the mark on the "T" do all have the same messed up "S" (first S in STATES). And all five of these coins have no mint mark.
So that leaves three more individual coins that do not exhibit either of the above defects. However, I'm pretty sure the 1895 "D" is fake because Denver did not mint any Morgan Silver Dollars, or any silver coins for that matter until 1906. The 1921 Morgan is the only one that was ever minted at Denver. The other two (1892 & 1893) both have very poor "S" mint marks.
I am aware that leaves me four short of the 28 total coins, those would be the four sent for grading which are still on there way back home. I'll find out which category above they fit into when they get here.
So now what? I have a complete set of Morgan Silver Dollars, all of which of course are in wonderful condition, and are worth a lot of money!! Well, if it wasn't for that little "fake" issue they'd be worth a lot of money.
Voting Time: Sell or Melt?
Note: any sale would adhere to all laws regarding such
