The Chinese are making all sorts of fake American coins from early silver dollars to fake Mexican silver coins. The way to tell the fakes is by weight. They are normally lighter then the real things and if dropped just don't sound right. When I was on a cruise about 10 years ago I saw some really nice looking Spanish cobs at the flea market on the dock the ship stopped at. The thing was I saw the exact same cob at several different vendors. Now I know that back in the old days they could make coins that look similar but these all have the exact same "scratches" in the surface and the exact same shape. Just too coincidental to not be fake.