Hello everyone !
as you may have noticed I live in france but I really enjoy working with dollar sized coins. preferably silver (for the sound and beauty !). there are a lot of them in france and from france at an affordable price. recently I wanted to give a try to the morgan dollars, but the prices are high and the coins need to look the same (worn or not, circulated, bright/ dark...) so It was way too complicated for me to order some in the states. maybe we have some in my country but it would be awfully expensive as american products are sold at the called number of your prices but with the euro symbol instead ! (40$ becomes 40€ and even more in france... here is why I often order playing cards and other stuff in your country).

anyway, I've purchased some morgan dollar replicas on ebay like the ones here :

http://cgi.ebay.fr/Replica-1889-CC-Morga......1.c0.m14

they have a "replica" mark on it so no worries and it is always very discrete because the mark is well placed on it. these coins don't sound like silver and don't look like silver if you are used to see silver coins but still, they look very very good and are perfect for magic.

I would like to know if any of you has got some of these coins and tried it with an expanded morgan dollar shell from tango magic. this is what I want to buy but I want to be sure this is a good combination.

thanks a lot !

for those who may be interested in coin replicas, there are some replica made in silver ! here : http://cgi.ebay.com/Replica-1881-CC-Morg......1.c0.m14

Hi

My experience is that the replicas are very close in appearance, but shells are a little too tight. 1mm makes all the difference.

Yes, that's what I expected... do you know what is the official diameter of a morgan dollar coin ? I'll try to look on one.

I believe Morgans have a diameter of 38 mm. Good luck! I didn't know that replica Morgans are available...thanks for the heads up.

andy

Thanks ! mine are exactly 38 mm. I'm really thinking about a tango shell...

Hello The amazing boy,

If the fake morgan has the same diameter as a regular morgan you can use our expanded shell without problems.
But, I don't know if the colour of fake coins is the same that the others.
Did you think to work with Eisenhower Dollar coins ? It's so cheaper and the same diameter that Morgan.

Thanks for your reply !

well, I liked the morgan dollars mainly for the vintage look. also, I never saw a shell for Eisehower dollars. do they exist and at what price ? and do they have the same edge as the morgans ?

but thanks for the tip, this is another possibility to consider.


edit : I just saw some shells at 40$ ! it really makes me thinking... !

Yes they make Ike ]s. Check here:

http://johnsonmagicproducts.com/shop/ind......77bb7b62


And got one of those Morgan replica coins, very nice copy as to size and weight. Nice alternative to real Morgans. Think I paid 10cents for it, great deal and coin.

I still can't see where it's marked copy... I swear it looks real to me...

Try them out first, or you'll be sorry! 1/2 mm can make a difference too...

I'm also thinking that if it doesn't work properly, I can still sell it on ebay for a slightly lower price. since homer liwag released his coinone routine, many french people talk about morgans... ! not a surprise though

thanks to you all for helping, gathering all your views on this subject is interesting and useful !

Yes the price of Expanded Ike is $ 40

I bought some of these Fake Morgans from a dealer who to no fault of his own advertised them as real morgans. They were gaffed. When I told the dealer that these weren't real silver coins he said to me that they look the same.

After mentioning that they don't look or sound like real silver Morgans which I use he told me I can return the coins for a refund.

Are all fake Morgans marked with "Replica" like the images in the link in the first post?

I have three Morgans and while two are fine, the third - purchased on Ebay - simply can't be real. It is nice and shiny - no tarnished coloring at all. The engraving is way too perfect: not a scratch or wear spot anywhere. And finally, it simply doesn't feel real. Actually it feels slightly lighter than the others. Also, it doesn't have the same "ring" to it. I can drop the other two on the table and they sound like silver coins, but this one sounds flat - more like dropping an Eisenhower dollar on the table.

I didn't think that replica silver coins were legal if not marked as such. Live and learn...

Jim

No, actually these fake morgan coins are from china and just some of them have the "replica" mark. mine have it but sometimes they don't. it is possible that real uncirculated morgan coins look really perfect but if you say yours might be lighter and doesn't feel/sound like silver, this is probably a fake one. you'll find easily if you have some fakes with those links :

http://coins.about.com/od/worldcoins/ig/......ng-Ring/
http://www.ehow.com/how_4821306_spot-fak......ars.html
http://coinauctionshelp.com/Counterfeit_......lar.html


and okay, today I purchased my tango shell. see you in a few days for a review about the use of the tango shell with some morgan replicas.

Thanks Amazing Boy.

I don't have a high-precision scale as mentioned in one of the articles but based on the feel and sound, along with some of the features shown on photos of fakes in those links, I am pretty sure I got bit. Oh well, 17.00 won't kill me. I did get two authentic Morgans from another Ebay seller for 18 & 21. I can't find them anywhere around me, and looking at coin collector sites on the web, most are selling uncirculated, proof, etc. in some cases for $150 or 200+. I can't do that for my magic stuff!

Jim

Okay ! good to know it wasn't expensive. now you'll be able to recognise real ones. what routines do you do with thoses ? does anyone knows where I can find a good description of the trick called "winged silver" ?

"Winged Silver" can be found in "Modern Coin Magic" by JB Bobo.

Tom

Can you the soften the replica coins?
I check some on ebay but they seems not very well worn.

So ! after a few months of use, my set has evolved. at first the replicas from china were too thick and way darker than the shell so the shell was too much catchy for the eye. the tango shell looks way more shiny than the replicas to me. So I started to look for other replicas. and luckily I found some on ebay with the same look ! they were lighter too.

I guess the chinese replicas are thicker because they want to reproduce the weight of silver, which feels heavy in a coin. so with the new ones it is easier to practice.

now for the replicas from china I don't know what metal is used to make them but after a while, one coin I was using a lot kind of lost partially it's color and got some goldish spots, reavealing the true color of the metal. It started to smell more like an oxyded metal too. so I don't know if you can soften these but I don't recommend it unless you have a way to color them.

maybe they are worn replicas ? keep us posted about what you find.

I spent some time to search replica coins on line, but I can't really find worn ones.
I ordered some 1883 replica on ebay last night.
I want to do routines like 3 fly by Chris Kenner so I really hope the coin could be soften on the surface.
Lets keep my finger crossed!
The seller is from China and the shipping might take 20 days.
As soon as I got the coins, I will post how I feel about them.