Counterfeit Coins and Money

It is the nightmare come true for any large collector of currency or coins; purchasing an expense piece, only to find out it is a counterfeit. Now, counterfeiting is nothing new to the world of money, as it has been practiced as long as money has been exchanged for goods and services. However, the counterfeiters are getting more sophisticated in creating new dies to strike coins that even the experts have trouble telling the difference.

Courtesy AMA

 

Here is a story of one instance "

The buyer, a dealer who asked to remain anonymous, bought it as a raw coin at a local coin show from a collector who he had seen before, a guy who he said looked like Newman from the Seinfeld TV show (Newman!). He never saw him again. Before buying it, the dealer showed it to other dealers at the show. Nobody saw anything wrong with it.

Ironically, after buying it, the dealer didn't submit the coin to a respectable grading company but rather to a bottom-tier service. It came back authentic, as AU-55. Later, another grading company evaluated the coin in its slab and condemned it as being an "Omega" counterfeit, with the same diagnostics as the famous fakes, including tooling marks in the rays above the date (visible only under magnification), but with the famous omega symbol buffed off the eagle's claw. The dealer later donated this piece to the American Numismatic Association. The lesson: Never buy a raw high-end coin from anybody who looks like Newman." (Goldsborough, 2014)

My own fake Chinese Dollar

I remember buying a folder of early Chinese Dollars that were counterfeits and made into a display. So, I was parting with my memorabilia and collections at the Royal Oak Flea Market with my sons. Interesting enough I had an Asian man inquire about the coins, I explained they were counterfeits and he excepted the fact with glee; buying the set for a fair price as they did have "some" silver" in the mix. Sure enough, three weeks later at a coin show guess who do I see selling "authentic" Chinese Dollars to the public, my Asian buddy. He was removed from the show.



More of my fakes, if they were real, I'd be in Vegas...

On the right you'll see some more of my counterfeit's from all countries and dates. As the caption says, if they were real I would be in Las Vegas again this Thanksgiving, hence I am available for dinner this year. The old roman coins have been copied for centuries, as they use to make counterfeits to use in trade deals, then reject the monies when their trade partners tried to turn them in for supplies. Gold coins where always attempted to be forged, using gold leaf for the exterior and other medals on the inside, this was very popular in Great Britian in the early 1800's.

A great article on the Athenian Owl Replicas is available by this link. Naturaly this is the coin that I got my introduction to counterfeit coins; as I purchased one on line and was informed it was countereit by a dealer. I tried to get a refund and that never occured, a three hundred dollar lesson. So, how do you avoid getting ripped off? Know who you are buying coins from, a local dealer or coin store, high valued coins should be graded from PCGS as the most trusted source for graded coins. Stay away from buying expensive coins online, even from places like eBay, and more so, buying coins from outside of the United States.

If you have any questions, please free to email me.

As always, have fun collecting.

CJC



Reference:

Goldsborough, Reid (2014) "Saint Gaudens Double Eagles" Retrieved from URL: http://saintgaudenscoins.reidgold.com/