I tend not to think about it and not judge. Just ID the coin and maybe, if there is not question or doubt in my mind AT ALL, I will say if I think it is fake or authentic, let them know some realized prices for a coin.
I say just RUN! By the way, forgive my thhickness, perhaps too many tax forms running thru my head. But, what does SPY stand for?
Somehow, I jump into things just as it gets hot. Early enough to benefit but too late to profit. *Sigh*. Comic books, Wacky Packages... AWD Turbo cars... and now Coin collecting. I'll guess I'll stick to my lincolns,washingtons and morgans for now till things settle down. A question for you "ol' timers" :hug: Is this a fairly cyclical thing where coin collecting gets red hot perpetuating lots of scams and counterfietors? Or is where we are surpise many of you long time collectors?
Considering that PCGS, NGC and Coin World have all recently been warning that most coins coming from China should be considered fakes or counterfits until proven otherwise, I would err on the side of caution with "any" coins or requests for information from that area of the world. A recent article in Coin World touched on this subject. One of the comments in the article (and I summarizing here) was that while there are probably many legitimate and authentic US coins in China, the vast majority appear to be illegitimate. Unless you are able to hold the coin in your hand before you purchase it, you should be very wary of buying any numismatic product from a Chinese source.
I'm aware that many of the counterfeited U.S. coins produced at this time are from China. What surprised me is that a poster in a recent thread posted that he or she was from China and collected coins. Someone wrote back "SPY". Why call the person a SPY, was it because they where from China are all Chines counterfeiters? One can be vigilant but lets not brand someone a SPY just because they are from China. Lou