Check Out Authenticity In All Price Ranges

By Rick Montgomery - May 8, 2001

The peripheral weakness and soft luster of this obverse are characteristic of a 96-P. The genuine '96-S dollars are sometimes softly struck, too, but they have more fire than this coin.

There are some coins that don’t get a second look when it comes to authenticity. After all, the dealer (or collector) reasons, it’s not a $5,000 coin or anything, so why would someone alter it? Such an attitude can lead to disastrous results, as all coins of value are susceptible to counterfeiting and alteration.

Most silver dollars are easy to differentiate from the obverse alone. This coin cries out, "I was made in Philadelphia!" even though there’s an "S" on the reverse. What is the giveaway on the obverse? There’s that "Philly" look to it, with the relatively dull luster and the almost rounded periphery with poorly defined denticles. This coin simply doesn’t have the "oomph" of a San Francisco issue.

The real proof of alteration lies on the reverse. The "S" mintmark sits there in all its glory, surrounded by the adhesive material that was used to place and hold it there. There is also a seam in evidence that gives us a glimpse of the sloppy work the counterfeiter did while adhering the mintmark to the coin.

Remember to stay on the lookout for counterfeits in all price ranges. It is not just the 1893-S dollar or the 1927-D $20 that needs close examination, but ANY coin of value that might profit the unscrupulous counterfeiter.

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.