🥇 BANNER 1878 Contemporary counterfeit Trade dollar, San Francisco mint mark!

[Scrappy]

Me and my buddies Eastcoast hunter and Bart got out for a hunt. A real beat up place that’ll reward you if you try hard enough. I’m right in a spot overlooking a stream and I get clunky mid-signal.

What I uncovered blew my mind. First I saw the eagle and the corroded edges and, having dug a few, I knew it was an old counterfeit. I was thinking it’s a counter Mexican 8. My buddy Charlie cleaned it I and we were floored. Never have I seen a trade dollar, much less a counterfeit one!

I’ve dug some great old and real silver in my life, so I really appreciate a contemporary counterfeit when I find one. So enjoy, I’ve never seen or heard of one found, and this one cleaned up beautifully.


Good hunts,

Steve

 

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[screwynewy]

Thanks. I hadn’t seen any either in all the years I’ve been on Tnet, so I figured those who appreciate the more obscure coinage and counterfeits would appreciate this post.

Awesome and rare find for sure. I've been on Tnet since 2011 and only seen 2 posted one of which I found. I haven't seen another one real or counterfeit posted since you just found this one. Congratulations. Here's a link to the one I dug: https://www.treasurenet.com/threads/you-dont-see-these-everyday-seated-liberty-trade-dollar.311777/

 

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[jewelerguy]

Wow that's cool

 

[JeffInMass]

We simply never see trade dollars posted, authentic or not- Fantastic find!!

 

[caretaker]

wicked awesome find, I'd rather have that one then the real one I think it's a banner find

 

[BuckleBoy]

Scrappy that is one hell of a find!! I’d paint that puppy with a light coat of 50/50 Elmer’s glue and water to preserve it. Wow!!

 

[Diggin Dude]

Excellent find Scrappy! Sweet piece of history.. Well done

 

[CRUSADER]

I was thinking the 50/50 Elmer’s solution to prevent flaking, like we do pewters. Thoughts?

 

[Scrappy]

Awesome find Scrappy, A trade dollar, counterfeit or not is high on my bucket list. You just don't see or hear of any being dug. Huge congrats

Thx Loco. Hope you come visit soon brother

 

[Scrappy]

wicked awesome find, I'd rather have that one then the real one I think it's a banner find

I was thinking about authentic vs. counterfeit myself… think I’d rather an authentic, just barely. Thx for the banner nod

 

[Hunk-a-lead]

View attachment 2011681Me and my buddies Eastcoast hunter and Bart got out for a hunt. A real beat up place that’ll reward you if you try hard enough. I’m right in a spot overlooking a stream and I get clunky mid-signal.

What I uncovered blew my mind. First I saw the eagle and the corroded edges and, having dug a few, I knew it was an old counterfeit. I was thinking it’s a counter Mexican 8. My buddy Charlie cleaned it I and we were floored. Never have I seen a trade dollar, much less a counterfeit one!View attachment 2011666View attachment 2011667

I’ve dug some great old and real silver in my life, so I really appreciate a contemporary counterfeit when I find one. So enjoy, I’ve never seen or heard of one found, and this one cleaned up beautifully.
View attachment 2011669View attachment 2011668

Good hunts,

SteveView attachment 2011681

very neat find, haven't seen one of those. wtg

 

[caretaker]

Scrappy, you can buy a real one, I never heard of the one you have, that may be one of a kind

 

[BlueHuntsCoins]

That's amazing! Coincidentally, I was cleaning my semi-desirable pile and cleaned up this melted lead piece. Surprised to see that apparently it was a melted counterfeit trade dollar as well made of lead. It still even has the reeding on the edge. Yours is much cooler though! Great find!

 

[Behcun]

View attachment 2011681Me and my buddies Eastcoast hunter and Bart got out for a hunt. A real beat up place that’ll reward you if you try hard enough. I’m right in a spot overlooking a stream and I get clunky mid-signal.

What I uncovered blew my mind. First I saw the eagle and the corroded edges and, having dug a few, I knew it was an old counterfeit. I was thinking it’s a counter Mexican 8. My buddy Charlie cleaned it I and we were floored. Never have I seen a trade dollar, much less a counterfeit one!View attachment 2011666View attachment 2011667

I’ve dug some great old and real silver in my life, so I really appreciate a contemporary counterfeit when I find one. So enjoy, I’ve never seen or heard of one found, and this one cleaned up beautifully.
View attachment 2011669View attachment 2011668

Good hunts,

SteveView attachment 2011681

One of the few times I've seen counterfeit coin that really IS worth money .

Great job!

 

[Traffer]

View attachment 2011681Me and my buddies Eastcoast hunter and Bart got out for a hunt. A real beat up place that’ll reward you if you try hard enough. I’m right in a spot overlooking a stream and I get clunky mid-signal.

What I uncovered blew my mind. First I saw the eagle and the corroded edges and, having dug a few, I knew it was an old counterfeit. I was thinking it’s a counter Mexican 8. My buddy Charlie cleaned it I and we were floored. Never have I seen a trade dollar, much less a counterfeit one!View attachment 2011666View attachment 2011667

I’ve dug some great old and real silver in my life, so I really appreciate a contemporary counterfeit when I find one. So enjoy, I’ve never seen or heard of one found, and this one cleaned up beautifully.
View attachment 2011669View attachment 2011668

Good hunts,

SteveView attachment 2011681

Such a cool find. And a cool piece of history. Fantastic!

 

[Gritsgal]

Wow, that’s great! I’d be so excited finding something like that. I’m new to this. My husband bought my detector for Christmas last year and I’ve only had it out twice. I really don’t know how to operate or have anyone to go out with me to find places to search. Good find!

 

[bk]

This coin may or may not be contemporary. I live in an area near SW Wisconsin where there was a lot of lead mining activity in the mid 1800's, including lead mining schools. I think that when some of these "school kids" got bored, they probably tried to reproduce some of these coins by casting a few for themselves to be spent.
Others, including myself have found several lead alloy reproductions of coins including seated liberty's, Morgan dollars, Barber's, a 5 dollar gold piece and even a Civil War "store card token". Many of these repo's are very well made, and others are not. All of my counterfeit coins were found with a metal detector in areas where older coins were found.
They are fun to find.
Thanks for sharing!

 

[Scrappy]

Scrappy that is one hell of a find!! I’d paint that puppy with a light coat of 50/50 Elmer’s glue and water to preserve it. Wow!!

Thanks Buck! Glad to know you liked it. So after a couple days drying I’m going to neutralize the corrosion process and apply the mixture. Cheers

 

[Scrappy]

One of the few times I've seen counterfeit coin that really IS worth money .

Great job!

Wow, that’s great! I’d be so excited finding something like that. I’m new to this. My husband bought my detector for Christmas last year and I’ve only had it out twice. I really don’t know how to operate or have anyone to go out with me to find places to search. Good find!

well if you were in the northeast you could tag along with my crew, the Bastards of Bramble, but I see you’re in Florida. All you can do is dig a lot of targets and figure it out slowly. Hang in there, Florida is a tough proving ground

 

[Scrappy]

This coin may or may not be contemporary. I live in an area near SW Wisconsin where there was a lot of lead mining activity in the mid 1800's, including lead mining schools. I think that when some of these "school kids" got bored, they probably tried to reproduce some of these coins by casting a few for themselves to be spent.
Others, including myself have found several lead alloy reproductions of coins including seated liberty's, Morgan dollars, Barber's, a 5 dollar gold piece and even a Civil War "store card token". Many of these repo's are very well made, and others are not. All of my counterfeit coins were found with a metal detector in areas where older coins were found.
They are fun to find.
Thanks for sharing!

Yep, it could be, but I doubt it was amateur and here’s why. I look a a few things when I come across a counterfeit, the material, the detail, and the process. The material for the planchet is uniform which tells me it wasn’t just pot metal made from scrap. The details are very sharp which, after handling a lot of counterfeits myself, also suggests this wasn’t some kid with some clay. And last, the coin was made in a two step process where the silver plating was added to the planchet. The whole process was, without a doubt, meant to pass as real. The reason it’s contemporary is fake coinage people are trying to pass as real can’t be too old or to obscure. I appreciate what you’re saying, and home casting has its place, but I don’t think it applies to this coin

 

[Randy Combs]

absolutely awesome