It was a time of war, of North versus South, of Lincoln versus Davis, and brother against brother. It was a time of fear, and courage, and great uncertainty. It was a time of financial panic in many areas, and one of the results was the creation of counterfeit coins. These coins weren't made to fool collectors; instead, they were used in everyday commerce to feed and clothe desperate people. Most contemporary counterfeits seen carry dates commensurate with extremely hard times: the 1830s, the 1860s, and the 1930s.
The 1861 dime pictured here is a struck counterfeit, almost certainly hand struck, probably using the hammer method. The coin is made of German silver; predominately copper, tin, and zinc. The dies used to make the fake were hand cut. This is the first dime made by this method that PCGS has seen, but both an 1861 and 1862 quarter have also crossed our desk that were made by the same method.
On the obverse, note the big toes (!) on Miss Liberty, as well as the poorly made date. The reverse exhibits an incomplete wreath and poorly aligned lettering.
Close scrutiny makes this counterfeit easy to spot, but in more desperate times it could easily be mixed in with other coins to purchase a sack of flour.
Rick Montgomery has been a professional coin grader since 1980. He was a grader at the American Numismatic Association Certification Service (ANACS) from 1980 to 1985. He was the ANACS Director from 1985 to 1987. Rick joined PCGS in 1987 and was named President of the company in 1997. In his tenure at PCGS, he has verified the final grades for over 5,000,000 coins. Rick is the co-author of "The Official Guide To Coin Grading And Counterfeit Detection," the Numismatic Literary Guild's "Book Of The Year" award winner for 1998. Today, Rick is considered the world's top expert on U.S. coin counterfeit detection.
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