When Fakes Become Collectable
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Posted by: David F. Fanning,
on 7/30/2007,
in category "General News"
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Abstract: Numismatic researcher David F. Fanning takes a closer look at a recent auction of some remarkable 19th century electrotype copies.
When Fakes Become Collectable
by David F. Fanning
An unusual auction took place earlier this year. The sale featured a number of very high-grade early large cents, some with remarkable provenances going back to some of the most famous large cent collections ever formed. Yet they brought only a couple thousand dollars apiece. Even an MS63 example of a very rare variety of 1793 chain cent brought only $3,600.
How did this happen? The pieces being sold were electrotypes, copies made of some of the finest genuine large cents in existence. The auction was that of the Early American Coppers (EAC) club, an organization of half cent and large cent specialists, and the pieces had been properly catalogued as being electrotypes.
The sale of these pieces raises a few questions. Why would anyone pay thousands of dollars for what are essentially counterfeit coins? How did the manufacturers of these pieces have access to the clearly amazing genuine samples they had copied? What is the point in collecting and studying these so-called coins?
There are a number of possible answers to these questions, but first we should take a brief look at the history of the electrotyping process and the motivations of those who made the sort of pieces that were sold at the EAC auction.
Electrotyping was first developed in Europe in the early nineteenth century. It is a process that uses an electric current to deposit a very thin layer of metal onto a conductive surface. It has important industrial uses and was also widely used in printing technology. It didn’t take long, however, for someone to apply the technology to copying coins.
When making an electrotype of a coin, one doesn’t want to deposit a layer of metal onto the coin itself, as that would damage the original. So what happens is that the coin is pressed into clay or some other soft material that will faithfully capture each detail of the coin’s design. The clay is then dusted with a conductive medium (graphite powder, for instance), and a thin layer of metal is deposited through electroplating. This results in the formation of a thin metal shell that retains the fine detail of the coin on its surface. Each side of a coin must be electrotyped separately. The two resulting shells must then be joined together and the interior of the shells filled with another metal (lead is often used). The final product, if made by a skilled electrotyper, is a copy of a coin that looks extremely accurate. By the second half of the nineteenth century, the technology of electrotyping had been developed to the point where a skilled person could make electrotypes of valuable coins without damaging them and in such a way as to faithfully replicate each nuance of the original.
So were the makers of these copies out to deceive? The fact that many nineteenth-century electrotypes were made using the finest known specimens of the real coins provides us with some insight into this.
Attitudes toward copies of coins have changed over the years. Whereas most of us now regard numismatic reproductions as a nuisance and assume that they were all created in order to dupe the unwary collector, this was not always the case. In the nineteenth century, making copies of coins was seen not only as innocent, but as a way of providing other collectors with specimens of rare and unusual coins that were otherwise unobtainable. They were sold openly at auction, and even wealthy collectors would have some in their collections. They certainly weren’t equated with originals, nor were they valued as highly. They were, however, regarded as useful and educational.
Images courtesy of Stack's Rare Coins
The Norweb example of Baker-53F
An electrotype copy of the Washington Declaration of Independence Medal
Museums of the day frequently electrotyped their coins. This was done so that accurate copies could be distributed to scholars for purposes of study (a practice that has continued into recent times). It was also done for display purposes: electrotyping provided museums with an easy and inexpensive way to display both sides of a rare coin (one side being the real coin, the other the electrotype). Indeed, museums could opt to avoid the risk of theft altogether and only display electrotypes, keeping their originals in vaults. The British Museum was particularly well-known for electrotyping its coins.
While the motivations of the original nineteenth-century electrotypers may have been innocent, there is no denying that their work can make headaches for collectors today. The accuracy of these reproductions means that die varieties can be attributed from them, lending support to anyone trying to suggest that an electrotype is a genuine specimen. Fortunately, there are ways to detect electrotypes that even novice collectors can learn.
Image by John Roberts
Visible seam with a hint of lead showing between two copper shells
on the edge of this electrotype copy of an 1831 half cent
Since electrotypes are made by fusing two shells together and filling the interior with metal, they tend to have a visible seam around the edge. A deceptive person may attempt to remove (or at least blur) this seam, but it is difficult to wholly eradicate. The surfaces of electrotypes are often grainy as well, though genuine coins can also exhibit granularity. Perhaps more importantly, the weight of electrotypes often varies from the standard weight of the genuine coin. This is especially helpful with electrotypes of federal coins, as their weights are set by law and rarely vary much. (It is less helpful with colonial coinage, where weights within a series often vary considerably.) Finally, electrotypes rarely ring in the same way a struck coin does: since the metal making up the electrotype has not been subjected to the intense pressures of the coining process, its material properties are not the same as those of struck coins, resulting in a different sound if tapped or lightly dropped.
Image by John Roberts
Area around date on this low-quality electrotype copy of an 1831 half cent
Note the "pimples" above digits and pronounced ridges below the date
There are more recent electrotypes made with twentieth-century methods that can be far more deceptive, but usually this type of fake can readily be identified by the collector who knows what to look for. Improvements in technology have made it more cost-effective for modern counterfeiters to actually strike their copies, so newly made electrotypes are rarely encountered.
Electrotypes, then, particularly those made in the nineteenth century from beautiful original coins, are highly sought after by numismatists who are interested in the history of the hobby and who enjoy being able to study an example of a rare coin or die variety without the risk of handling a real coin that may be worth tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. While there is always the risk of these often skillful copies falling into the hands of those who would wish to pass them off on the public as the genuine article, they have played a legitimate role in the hobby for over a century and odds are good we won’t be getting rid of them anytime soon.
We at ANACS would like to extend a note of personal thanks to our guest author, David F. Fanning for his article. Aside from his professional duties, Dr. Fanning also serves as Editor - In - Chief of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society. This non-profit organization is dedicated to the advancement and study of numismatic literature. More information about the NBS may be found on their website, www.coinbooks.org or in their quarterly journal The Asylum. Dr. Fanning has written a number of articles for this publication and is a past recipient of an Award of Extraordinary Merit from the Numismatic Literary Guild.
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