My first gold counterfeit...frustrating

Coin came back from PCGS yesterday.
Bought this Coin raw From a reputatet dealer in 2009.
I'm so frustrated.....
I will buy just graded coins in future.

 

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man that sucks.

 

At first glance, that's a nice counterfeit. Do you have any recourse with the dealer? It's been a long time since you purchased the coin, but if you maintained a relationship with him/her, then maybe they will take it back. Sorry to hear about your loss.

 

No there is no possibility to talk with the dealer.
He closed his shop in 2011.

I never thougt this coin could be counterfeited.
A common date in the Au range.
It's senseless in my eyes.
The Parameters of the Coin are perfect......you learn whole live long.

 

Have you ever weighed this coin, done any sort of chemical or touchstone test on it or asked any other dealers to help you grade it previous to your PCGS submission? It might still be an interesting exercise to ask some dealers for input, presenting it to them without telling them of PCGS' decision in advance.

Could you provide some close up photos of your coin, showing fully, both sides, to help people reading this thread know how to check for the hallmarks of fraudulent pieces. There have been some useful threads on fake gold posted on CT in the past. What you can't get out of this piece in terms of authenticity might well be a good candidate for educating other collectors instead.

 

Look to the bright side, at least it should have some melt value. Hopefully it is one of the Middle Eastern examples that were pretty close with the gold content.

 

Give us some close up pics of both sides so we can learn from it. Looks genuine in the pic to me! This would be a great opportunity for us all to learn something!

 

Is it at least 90% gold? It is a nice looking coin and I just picked one up from my local dealer raw yesterday, a 1914 none the less. Would make a great golf ball marker.

 

Yep, this is one of the middle eastern counterfeits. I'm sure that good close ups would reveal a tell or 2.

 

The good thing about the Middle Eastern counterfeits is that they were monetary counterfeits created to fill a demand for gold coin - not to fool collectors - thus they are at least gold. They are even more common with British sovereigns, particularly George V dated 1925.

 

Thanks for input everybody.
I'll try To make better pictures.

 

Buying gold already slabbed is a safer bet. Might have to pay a premium for it, but for an expensive purchase its almost like insurance. Sorry to hear it was a fake.

 

Slightly Better pics.
Coin weighs 8,38 Gramm.

 

Here we are.

 

This is precisely why I only advocate buying coins in slabs. We have been over this territory many times--even experienced collectors are being fooled by high quality counterfeits.

 

Does a graded coin essentially become legit once its in a slab? Does the grading company take responsibility? Or does he slab carry enought cred that no one questions it and it sells for what is listed on the label?

 

PCGS and NGC have guarantees.

 

So if the graders believe its legit.....its legit. Anyone looking at the coin will look at the label to determine what to pay rather than looking at the actual coin

 

Of course their opinion doesn't change the coin. If they mistakenly slab a counterfeit coin, then it's still a counterfeit, but at least there's a guarantee behind it. From what I understand, they'll buy it from you at what they believe is the going price for an authentic coin of that type and grade.

I wouldn't say "anyone", but it's been known to happen.

 

If it is graded by one of the major companies, it is considered legitimate. There have been mistakes over the years, obviously but the guarantee does mean an awful lot. As regards looking at the label, let's be sensible about that--the market controls prices, not TPGs. You don't like the price--don't buy. Simple as that.


The buyback is at market retail prices as determined by greysheet.