A special machine does the stamping of coins to make them genuine. People who counterfeit coins are well trained and have the capacity to manipulate their duplication – especially those rare coins which have high value among collectors. The most common procedure used in counterfeiting is that they pour a liquid metal into molds that will leave die marks with cracking on the counterfeit coin.
Those who are experts in determining counterfeit coins have observed that the changes seen in the coins have added, removed, or even altered the coins date markings. If a person thinks that he is in possession of a counterfeit collectible coin, he can compare it with another coin one like the suspect coin which is known be genuine and have the same markings.
If the coins value is more than 5 cents, look for corrugations in the outer edges of the coin. These are very thin railings (also know as reeding) on the edges of the coins. Genuine coins have very thin edges and the railings are even and distinct if one is very observant. Those coins that are counterfeit can be distinguished if the edges are not thin enough and the railing is uneven or missing in some areas....