So there I was... ...walking around the bazaar in this middle eastern country in which I currently find myself, looking at all the gold and silver jewelry for sale, when I spot a small basket full of silver coins. I speak with the owner, who shows me the basket. On top are several silver US quarters, so I take a closer look. One was a 1952, and the other was from the early 1960s. There were three half dollars, two 1964s and a 1967. In a glance of about 10 seconds I graded these coins from F12 to VF20, at best. In other words, there was NOTHING special about them at all. Of course the salesman tried to tell me they were "pure silver, 100%," but I knew better. In any event, after doing some quick math in my head to convert from riyals to dollars, I realized he wanted an average of $20 to $25 per coin. Granted, haggling is normal in the middle east, but he was so far out of the ballpark that I wouldn't even start negotiating. I was ready to just walk away when I saw the 1799 flowing hair silver dollar. I grabbed it up to take a closer look, and to my dismay realized it was made of aluminum. Aluminum. Really. They didn't even TRY to counterfeit that one! See ya!
I would never buy any coins while walking around a middle eastern bazaar, but especially stay away from old US and gold coins. Before Chinese took over (particularly in the 60's and 70's), most of the gold coin counterfeits came from the middle east. I think Lebanon was the biggest source. Many of these counterfeits are well done and quite deceptive, and continue to fool collectors today.
The Lebanese even used real gold in the fake US gold coins. I was told they were faking US gold not so much to deceive, but to facilitate trade.
I didn't even ask. My look of disgust violated all sorts of middle eastern customs about allowing them to save face, but they've been trying to blow me up for years, so I don't really care.
I don't normally, but some of my friends had stopped at the guy 20 feet away to haggle over something else. I was bored and saw coins, so I looked. The US silver coins were genuine, but my initial post says it all...
I had a similar experience in Afghanistan. I asked them to bring me old coins to buy. Luckily, I had some ancient collectors look at my photos before I tossed any money down the drain. They were all cast fakes and they wanted about $100 per...
Yeah, this guy had a bunch of ancient, including Arabian, Greek, and something else. I dabble in Greek and Roman coins, but I'm no expert at spotting counterfeits. So, I played it safe and didn't bother looking, especially given this guy's track record.
Had a similar experience in the Philippines, with my new Filipina wife. Before we went out, I purchased a magnet. She just gave me a puzzled look. The first place we stopped at had some of the old silver pesos, silver dollar sized from when they were a US possession. I took out the magnet, and they practically jumped onto it! The dealer just sat there, looking at the sky, as if we were not there. Wifey laughed, now realizing why I brought the magnet.
There were once so many Lebanese $21/2 Indian pieces around that we would say ; "That one is a 1914 B $21/2 Indian". The B being Beirut mint.
Early on in the Lebanese counterfeits they were making them at full weight and .900 fine gold as monetary counterfeits, they were also cranking out French roosters, British sovereigns etc.
Reminds of this antique flea market at a local tourist trap. Every coin was completely over-priced. At least they were authentic.
