As some of you know, many of us collect counterfeit coins. Contemporary counterfeits of foreign coins and U.S. Colonials are often valued more than their genuine counterpart.
One "famous" counterfeit U.S. gold coin is the 1907 "Omega" High Relief $20. These coins usually sell for over their bullion price due to their novelty and story.
We'll just now, I'm grading a modern struck counterfeit of that fifty year old fake. Unfortunately, for the submitter who sent it in to be slabbed with our yellow Education Only label for counterfeits as an "Omega" fake, it is going to be put in a slab as simply not genuine. Consider this as a warning that there must be many of these entering the market. I'm going to have images made and will post them next week.
Comments
UPDATE: There is not enough of the "Omega" Type diagnostics still visible enough to consider this a copy of fake!
I'm very disappointed this will go out as a normal C/F HR $20.
"Mr. Chang" has produced some very deceptive fakes. This is not one of them. The dealer who bought it knew it was a C/F but got stuck for the premium the "Omega's" bring.
Bottom line, things change with new research following the efforts of the dead. So some of Breen's letters may only have a historical value. Some of the stuff he wrote is as "factual" as a bunch of influential coin dealers making up "Specimen Strikes" out of thin air.
Despite his tarnished reputation, his personal copy of his Encyclopedia recently auctioned for about $37,500, even though other used copies are currently being offered on Ebay for as little $25.