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The Omega Counterfeits
The gold fakes that fooled the experts — until a tiny Greek letter Omega (Ω) hidden in the eagle’s claw gave the counterfeiter away.
1907 High Relief $20 Saint-Gaudens — Omega Counterfeit
- Series
- Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle
- Type
- Struck counterfeit
- Maker
- Unknown — “The Omega Man”
- Year made
- Early 1970s or before
- Dates found on coins
- 1907 ($20); 1874, 1878, 1882 ($3); 1910, 1913, 1926 ($10, disputed)
- Mintmark
- None (Philadelphia type)
- Composition
- Gold (exact purity not widely published)
- Weight
- Close to the genuine 33.436 g standard
- Key markers
- Tiny Omega (Ω) in the eagle’s claw; tooling marks in the hair and leg
- Value
- Documented counterfeit; trades among counterfeit/error collectors
The discovery
In the early 1970s, beautiful 1907 High Relief $20 gold pieces started showing up on the coin market. They were so well made they fooled professionals. Then someone found a tiny Greek letter Omega (Ω) hidden in the eagle’s claw. The counterfeiter had signed his work, and to this day nobody knows who he was.
The Omega Man: a counterfeit gold story
Who was the Omega Man?
- Nobody knows. It may have been one person or a group.
- The coins surfaced in the early 1970s when a sudden wave of 1907 High Relief double eagles hit the market.
- An authenticator at ANACS who started examining them in 1973 determined they were counterfeit.
- ANACS Director Charles Hoskins named the counterfeiter “Omega” after the signature mark.
- ANACS published an open letter to the counterfeiter in the May 1976 issue of The Numismatist. No reply was ever received.
The real coin vs. the Omega
| Genuine 1907 High Relief $20 | Omega Counterfeit | |
|---|---|---|
| Made by | U.S. Mint, Philadelphia | Unknown counterfeiter |
| Year made | 1907 | Early 1970s or before |
| Number made | About 12,000 | Unknown (some claim 20,000+) |
| Composition | 90% gold, 10% copper | Gold (exact purity not widely published) |
| Hidden mark | None | Tiny Omega (Ω) in the eagle’s claw |
The Mint struck only about 12,000 High Relief double eagles in 1907 before lowering the design so the coins could be made faster. Some sources claim more than 20,000 Omega fakes exist, which would mean more fakes than real coins. That number has never been proven.
What else did he make?
- 1907 MCMVII High Relief $20 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle: his best-known fake.
- $3 Indian Princess gold pieces dated 1874, 1878, and 1882, with the Omega mark inside the R of LIBERTY.
- $10 Indian Head Eagles dated 1910, 1913, and 1926 are sometimes listed too. This one is disputed. Some experts say the mark people point to inside the R on these coins also appears on genuine coins.
- There is no proven link between the people who made the $20 fakes and the other Omega-marked coins.
How to spot an Omega $20
- Look for the tiny Omega (Ω) inside the eagle’s claw on the reverse. A magnifier helps.
- Look for tooling marks in two spots on the obverse: in Liberty’s hair just above the ear, and on Liberty’s right leg just below the knee. A genuine High Relief has clean, uninterrupted detail there.
- Check the fields for a faintly cloudy or “matte” texture — the fakes were sometimes acid-treated to build an artificial patina that a genuine Mint piece does not carry.
- Weigh the coin and, if possible, check its specific gravity. Omega fakes are close, but small deviations from the genuine standard are supporting evidence.
- When the Omega mark or those tooling patches are present, submit the coin to a third-party grading service. An Omega counterfeit is collectible as a documented fake, but it is not a genuine $20.