Chinese Counterfeiter Producing High Quality Fakes

For one, the Chinese sellers that I bought from stated in their auctions that all coins are stamped with "replica" or "copy" on them. I am not knowingly importing non-complying coins as I have no way of knowing until after I have received the package and opened them that they do not contain "replica" or "copy" on them. I assumed that they wouldn't but the sellers clearly stated that they would be marked as such. Hence my hands are clean of what you are stating about being in compliance of this outdated HPA. Furthermore, they are strictly for my personal use so it is frankly no one's business if they are now in compliance or not and I couldn't really care less if they are.

What other people do with their replicas is none of my concern as pertains to me buying replicas for my personal collection. Who says you have to carry them around for a year in your pocket? A frequent issue that I had with buying Chinese replicas is that they arrived too new and shiny. I solved that problem by practicing with certain kinds of grit in my rock tumbler. That aged them right up, although not always perfectly, but as a whole it worked for me. The last time I bought Chinese replica coins was nearly 3 years ago and I will never sell or give them away to anyone due to ethical reasons you have stated. I respect the Chinese replica coin makers, they are independent thinkers and couldn't care less about antiquated rules or laws in other countries and have made otherwise unaffordable coins affordable to the common man which in turn works out for the greater good of the majority of all collector's out there. The only one's to be potentially impacted are the elite and super wealthy collectors so if their collection values drop 1% because of replicas then I believe they will be able to accept the loss in stride.

 

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Can't you see that attitudes like yours are what feeds the Chinese counterfiet machine , you say you expected that the coins would 'nt have the word copy on them . With that attitude you should just as well make them yourself , in my book you are not a numismatist but part of the reason for the downfall of this hobby .

 

Presumably you would see nothing wrong with importing nuclear waste, assault rifles and heroin for personal use as long as the buyer pretended not to know what was being delivered?

 

Yet you stated that you do not want legal reproductions that are marked COPY in your collection. Thus, you buy that crap with the expectation that you will get reproductions that are not legal.

 

I was going to jump in to this thread until I read Twinturbo's comment in post #36. I smelled a rat. I didn't believe him. I read on and saw how everyone got a little hot under the collar about the counterfeit issue. I believe it is too important for the hobby to ignore. I read on and almost Liked post #103 by 19Lyds, then I realized that something was still wrong with this thread. I also agree with rzage, I'll never believe Twinturbo again. Ha Ha the joke's on us for responding to an important issue.

 

All of you guys need to relax and take in some of that "kick back and relax" attitude that I have been raised with here in the West Coast. These replica coins are not bringing down the hobby, if anything they are re-invigorating it in ways that nobody would have imagined even 20 years ago. It is so nice that I can buy a replica 1914D Lincoln cent for my album for $2 instead of breaking the bank and paying $150 for an original.

I bet alot of storefront coin dealers were afraid of being put out-of-business with the advent of online coin sales but 16 years after ebay's establishment, coin shops are still around and doing better than ever. This is like when the automobile was invented in the 19th century, people were afraid of the gas tanks exploding and felt safer riding their horse and carriage. Well the gas tanks in early automobiles didn't explode and people became accepting of them and they took off in ways that nobody would have imagined at the time. This is the same thing with replicas, give it some time and people will see them as an asset to the hobby and not the bringer of doom that some of you seem to believe these replica coins are bringing.

 

Under that rationalization , why don't you just forgo the real coins and fill your so called collection with Chinese fakes , heck you don't even have to buy any books to learn about our great hobby . Also I just bought a real '1914-D VG to finally fill that long empty hole in my Whitman I started 50 years ago , I also felt a sense of accomplishment something you will never feel with your fake .

 

I'm going to cut out the middle(china)man and just glue pictures of rare coins into my albums. Who would have thought coin collecting would be so easy. We have a lot to thank the enlightened Chinese for.

I have hundreds of rare coin pictures to trade, I'm even willing to accept those passe "real coins" in exchange.

 

I see a new kind of collector emerging here -- one who only collects fakes (easier and cheaper to find). But the growing problem is that it's getting harder to determine which are fakes and which are real.

 

All the more reason we should get ****ed off and direct our anger towards the real problems . The counterfieters and the places like ebay that let them sell this junk . All it took was one collector from Canada to get them to pull all the fake Canadian Coins and fake PCGS slabs from Ebay . PCGS even gave him a reward of $10,000 . Imagine if we all got together . He did it all pretty much by himself by calling people .

 

Hmm can you elaborate on this won't most fakes not pass the weight/measurement test?

 

In my opinion, the point of the Chinese fakes being present every day on Ebay as well as other venues has been lost........If a "newbie" gets burned by a fake, the odds are they are going to leave the hobby....Bad news for the entire hobby.............Again in my opinion, there is no place and or need for Replica coins. They can only cause problems. It has already been acknowledged that MOST of the garbage coming to North America is not marked. The dishonest now jump in........The Hobby Protection Act does nothing to protect the Numismatic hobby. It just gives the crooks room to wiggle into. A picture of your missing coin would do the same thing as a fake in your album or what ever......Canada has made moves in the right direction. How many of the REPLICA coins are going to surface in collections when the individual dies.........Here in Canada, a replica coin is Counterfeit. No more no less!!!

 

Read the entire thead (or at least the beginning)... the latest crop of fakes easily pass weight/measurement tests.

 

That's news to me. I never heard of any reward paid.

There was a reason he was able to do that.

And that's the reason. Even marked, replica coins are illegal in Canada. That isn't true here in the US.

 

No they can't.

 

I honestly can't see the allure of having a replica coin.

 

Here;s the link to the award .http://www.coincommunity.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=96674 Sorry the reward was $5,000 not ten .

 

I have tried to explain the allure but it seems to not be getting through to most users on here so I have taken some scans. The top coins are my original 1873, 74 and 75 Indian Head Cents from my album. That 1873 with the scratch cost $7.50 alone. Now take a look at the replica's that I replaced them with in my album. They look so incredibly better than the originals and cost about $2 each. Need I say more? I am so happy with the Chinese replicas, they are awesome and have allowed me to spice up the quality of my collection.

 

Basically what this means is the HPA has compounded the very problem it was designed to prevent.