The 1893-S Morgan Silver Dollars are so renowned that more exist today than were originally minted. Most 1893-S counterfeit Morgans consist of altered versions of existing genuine Morgan dollars.
Most 1893-S Morgan Silver Dollars are certified, so why would I need to know how to distinguish a fake one when I see one? Haven’t NGC and PCGS done it for me already?
I have seen fake Morgans 1893-S both classified and raw. I have to assume that the PCGS and NGC testers know how to spot a fake Morgan 1893-S, so when I see an example of a counterfeit slab on a legitimate looking holder, I have to think that the holder is as fake as the coin .
I also come across the denial of counterfeit coins. The owners of these coins do not want to admit that they were tricked into buying a fake coin. That’s a tough pill to swallow, especially when the owner paid top dollar for a rated coin with the confidence that it was blessed by a major third party rater.
The 1893-S date / mint mark is the most valuable of the Morgan designed dollars. Because of this, most counterfeit versions have been made by modifying the date or mint mark.
Learning to distinguish a fake Morgan 1893-S is easy, because ALL 100,000 coins were made with the same obverse. and two inverse matrices. That makes the diagnosis really easy.
They all have the same face features and back features not terribly different. Any coin that does not possess the tell-tale diagnostic characteristics is a fake. Learn what to look for and you will be able to spot a fake raw coin AND a fake classified coin.
The date is probably the easiest to choose. Unlike other S, O, or P mints, the date has a flaw and a certain characteristic that altered coins will not have.
First, take a close look at 1. Does it line up exactly with the denture directly below it? Can you draw a line right through the center of both?
Next, study the last number. As the date progresses, it slopes up to the right, relative to the edge. The 3 is noticeably higher than the 1 at the beginning. This is the easiest way to quickly spot a fake.
There are things to check on the “T” and “R” in LIBERTY, but they would need a microscope to detect. There is a small scratch on the “T” and a detail that resembles “rabbit ears” at the base of the “R”. ALL genuine Morgan 1893-S have this detail, if you have a microscope, check out this diagnostic detail.
You really don’t need to flip the coin to do more diagnostics on it..
Additional diagnostics will only tell you how the alteration was made. The genuine “S” mintmark is clear and rounded. It is not a soft spot. The top serif of the “S” is a vertical line, while the bottom serif looks more like a triangle.
The next draw for the mint mark is the “S” lineup. It must be perfectly aligned. I’ve seen the mintmark “S” noticeably sloped, and it shouldn’t be. Also, the “S” is slightly padded between the upper curve and the slope of the “S”, as well as the lower curve and the slope.
Since most counterfeit 1893-S dollars are tampered with, continue to study the coin with a 10X glass. Flip the coin and look for tool marks around 9 or 3 for signs of a date tampering on the obverse. The altered coins are usually those of 1898-S, 1883-S or 1893-P.
As collectors’ values continue to rise with 1893-S, counterfeits will get even better. With emerging technologies, counterfeits will become almost perfect replicas of the original. My hope is that as the technologies to accurately copy a coin advance, the technologies to detect such copies will also keep up.