Many U.S. numismatic items have been counterfeited or otherwise imitated over the years, some so often that authenticators such as myself are automatically suspicious of them. Near the head of this list are the Indian Peace Medals issued by the United States government from the 1790s up to 1890, of which perhaps 90% of the allegedly rare pieces are fakes.

In the other fields of numismatics, some of the lesser fakes that we see are so easy to identify that we can do it over the phone with one hand tied behind our backs. For instance, many early U.S. and Confederate banknotes have been widely reproduced in what is commonly called replica form. These replicas are similar to the genuine items, but significantly different in some important way so that the maker cannot be accused of counterfeiting with intent to deceive, an important legal point.

On the replica banknotes, the key difference is usually in the heavy, parchment-like paper used, which one replicator “antiqued” by dipping the notes in pots of tea and drying them on a clothesline in the sun, giving them a look and feel much different than the flimsy rag paper typical of the originals. When I was with the Collectors Clearinghouse department at Coin World, or later with the American Numismatic Association Certification Service in Colorado Springs, we kept a list of the commonly seen replicas in our desks, so that when people called about one of the bills we could ask them the date and denomination of it and be able to tell them the serial number of their bill from the list.

Many colonial and territorial coins were also issued in replica form before the passage of the Hobby Protection Act of 1973, and many of these had distinguishing marks such as misspelled words or incorrect designs or a cryptic “R” (for REPLICA) that made them easy to spot over the telephone. Unfortunately, when people called us about Indian peace medals, there was almost nothing we could do without seeing the pieces, as most of the fakes were originally made by the United States Mint! (more…)

By Jeff Starck for COIN WORLD

When it comes to collecting medals and their cousins, medallions and medalets, size really is everything.

Medal collecting is an area where exacting terminology identifies the items. Knowing that what distinguishes the types of medals from each other is their size is necessary to engage in knowledgeable collecting.

Medals are usually pieces of metal, marked with a design or inscription, made to honor a person, place or event.

Medals are not intended to circulate as money. Medals may not be considered tokens, which have a stated or implied value (being “good for” a certain amount or a service, such as a bus fare) and are used as money substitutes.

A medal’s intended purpose is what makes it different from a coin or token, writes D. Wayne Johnson at a Frequently Asked Questions portion of the Medal Collectors of America Web site www.medalcollectors.org/Questions/index.html.