Coin Laundry Profits

Posted on February 04, 2012 by Admin
Coin Laundry Profits

Coin Laundry Profits

The demand for rare coins has not only raised the value of collectible coins but has also created a rise in the number of counterfeit coins coming into the market. Coin collectors need to be aware of a few tips that suggest a coin may not be authentic. Knowing sensitive areas to inspect or defects which occur during the process of counterfeiting may alert collectors to a fake and keep them from making a costly mistake.

Inspect Mintmarks on Coins

A common counterfeit coin is a 1909-S VDB Lincoln cent and illustrates the importance of inspecting mintmarks. Because only 484,000 of these particular Lincoln cents were minted at the San Francisco mint compared to over 27 million from the Philadelphia mint, coins marked with the S (indicating the San Francisco mint) are more valuable. For example, listed in the 2011 U.S. Coin Digest a 1909 VBD-S cent with a MS-65 grade is valued at 6,850 dollars. The same coin from the Philadelphia mint would only fetch around 200 hundred dollars.

This large difference in price attracts the attention of counterfeiters. To create a VBD-S penny, a forger only needs to apply the letter S to a 1909 VBD cent minted from Philadelphia since those coins do not have mintmarks. Although there are many ways an S can be added they are not perfect. Upon careful inspection of the mintmark, defects in shape, size, slant, or style can be noticed. If coin collectors are not aware of this common practice of adding S mintmarks to not only VBD cents but also to other coins, they could purchase a false San Francisco mint coin.