These take a little work to spot, but with good lighting and a quality magnifier, most collectors will be able to see them. If your up-close vision is good, you can spot this depression without magnification.Ī patch of tool marks can be seen in the reverse field, below the eagle’s beak. A noticeable diagonal depression is found in the headdress, to the lower right of the crescent, almost in the dead center of the obverse. The 1909-D Indian Head half eagle shown here exhibits both depressions and tool marks. The process of removing a tiny amount of metal from the surface of a fake die leaves microscopic scratches on the die face, and these scratches result in raised lines on the resulting fake coin. These occur when the counterfeiter takes a close look at his fake dies, sees a defect, and decides to “correct” the fake die using a sharp tool.

Tool marks are raised lines on the surfaces of a counterfeit.

Most counterfeit gold coins will exhibit dozens of depressions, since the typical genuine model coin will have at least this many contact marks. This mark will transfer over to the fake die, resulting in an identical incuse depression on each counterfeit struck from this fake die. The vast majority of counterfeit Indian Head quarter eagles and half eagles were produced using the transfer die process, where all the details of a genuine coin are transferred to a set of fake dies.Ī depression occurs if there is a contact mark or defect on the surface of the genuine model coin. Something about the incuse design causes problems for many collectors when they attempt to identify fakes - even veteran numismatists and dealers have trouble with these pieces at times.ĭue to this, my advice to collectors has always been to look for depressions and tool marks on the surfaces of a questionable example. The Indian Head gold $2.50 quarter eagles and half eagles have been favorites of counterfeiters for as long as I have been working as an authenticator.

1915 us 2.50 indian gold coin