Unlike official specimens, this spurious item is missing a large mintmark for the Philadelphia Mint.
Both scarce 1923-D and 1930-D dimes were found in circulation, and they are of interest to collectors since no such date-mint combinations were issued for this particular denomination.
It has been suggested that they may have been part of an attempt by the Soviet Union to sell its silver on the world market by counterfeiting (with full precious metal weight) U.S. coins.
His counterfeits are of such high quality that collectors will pay upwards of $1,000 for one; although a genuine coin sells for about $50,000 to $100,000.
Three of the counterfeit $10 gold pieces, the 1910-P, the 1913-P and the 1926-P, have the omega placed upside down within the upper loop of the "R" of "LIBERTY" in the Native American's headdress.
Plated counterfeit coin of the Roman emperor
Domitian
(81–96 AD). By using a copper core covered in a silver coating, the coin has a much lower intrinsic value, while face value remains the same.
A real British
pound coin
, of the old type, on top of a fake. This coin was often counterfeited.
Defective milling and letters on a counterfeit coin (top)
A tetradrachm from Ancient Athens, dated circa 449-413 BC. Contains multiple 'test cuts' which were commonly made by suspicious minds in antiquity to detect forgeries by assessing whether the base metal underneath was the same (silver) or a cheaper metal (e.g. bronze). This coin has silver beneath and is not an ancient forgery.
An American counterfeiting coin mold. The coin mold would come with two halves that would be lined with
clay
to make an impression of a genuine coin, then molten
lead
would be poured into the mold and the fake coin later plated with a thin layer of
silver
. Legitimate U.S. coins were made by
government mints
and stamped from silver or gold coin discs as most counterfeit coins were molded.
