Beware of Copy Coins

There are a number of coins floating around the market claiming to be "authentic," but if you do your research, you can save yourself a lot of time, money and embarrassment.
Before the law was passed that all copy coins had to be marked "COPY" somewhere on them, there were a large number of these copies floating around in circulation passing as authentic currency. This is not just limited to U.S. coins. There is amethodknown as "electrotyping." Basically, a geputer takes and image and the image is either engraved into a planchet or a lazer cuts the image into the planchet (A planchet is just a fancy term for the piece of metal coins are made of).
It is a good idea for every collector to have a magnifying lense to closely observe every detail of your coin. Most Mint-struck coins have a perfectly smooth field, whereas copy coins tend to have some sort of texture easily recognized by a trained eye.
One good way to tell if a coin you're looking into buying is the real-deal, is your trusty coin guide. The Red Book is a popular coin guide that can be very helpful in this instance, as it outlines which coins to be wary of because of the high volume of counterfeits found in the market.
A good example would be the renowned 1933 Double Eagle. Those of us in the coin world KNOW this coin is impossible to find just floating around on okay. However, there are THOUSANDS of copies being sold every day to unknowing buyers, most of which DO NOT say COPY on them anywhere on the coin.
Another way to tell if you gee across a more gemon type of coin, would be the weight of the coin. A coin's weight can tell all, because of the precise geposition of metals the Mint uses for each type of coin. If a coin's weight is too heavy, you know it is likely more copper than any other metal. If a coin is too light, it could be misstruck on the wrong planchet, which could make it a Mint-Error, or it could be a hand-melted copy, made from the melted gold or silver of scrap metal.
There are many other ways to tell if your coin is genuine or fake. If you are simply collecting as a hobby, then it won't matter much to you because it's still nice to look at. HOWEVER, if you are in the market to sell or make a profit from your coins, then you must be extremely careful and know the ropes. Know what you're getting into before you gemit, and you'll always gee out on top.