Featured An examination of the counterfeit slab epidemic. Scope and advice.

Yes, that would make him wrong. At .125%, for every 100, only .125 would likely be fake. In the future, please spare us the political rants.

Edit: and your age has almost nothing to do with your math capabilities. The very idea that you consider the two connected shows that you've got some deep rooted, negative preconceived notions about people who are younger than you. You should work on that.

 

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One assumption put forth here is the estimate that there are 40 million slabbed coins in the market. There isn't, in fact I think that most collectors are like me in that once they acquire a coin, they keep it. The total number of slabbed in the market to choose from could very well be as low as or less than a million. Remember alot are slabbed by the owner with no intention of selling. In this case, the saturation of fakes into the market is not as diluted as you would think.

 

Just wondering when this nonsense thread will be locked... I think there’s a 0.125 % chance this happens today. Don’t ask me about the percentage, some other poster made it up :-D

 

Except for two posters constantly trying to sabotage this thread, it was a thoughtful discussion.

There is a myriad of improvements I will make to the article before publishing it elsewhere.

 

Sabotage? It was sabotaged from the start, all I did was point it out. It's rather insulting for you to accuse me of not being thoughtful, since I'm the only one who has dared to apply critical thought in responding.

After our back and forth, all you've managed to squeeze out of this is "if someone finds a deal too good to be true, and it's in a slab, and that someone doesn't know anything about coins or slabs, then they shouldn't buy blindly from PCGS". The very same could be said about NGC, and only a fool would say otherwise. In fact, from what you've written, the safest choice is actually PCGS gold shield. Save yourself and whatever readers are out there the time and effort; don't bother trying to publish it.

If you were to read an article in a journal from your field of work that presented a conclusion based on guesses, speculation, zero citations, intentional downplaying of the most secure method of authentication to "not really being useful", intentional overstating current issues, and arriving at a conclusion that when checked, gets whittled so far down with caveats that it has no value, you'd hopefully be angered someone bothered to let that rubbish slip into their journal. Any publication worth their salt will laugh you to the door. All I've done is yank on the few measly threads holding your shaky article together and watch it fall apart.

 

I trust that the fake slab and BAD COIN are on the left (the Buffalo Proof Gold)? There's no way that coin could be PF 70 UC....it has bumps in the fields.

Looks like a Nestle's Krinkle chocolate bar.

 

And what do you call .125 in percent? Just move the digits over two positions to the right. Thanks for making my point. It's not preconceived notions, it's observation. Are you a millennial pollster?

 

I'm waiting for Chevy Chase and Garrett Morris to summarize this debate for the hard of hearing......

 

Let me help you understand your own confusion. Here is my original post, where I brought up .125% expressed as .00125.

See that? That's .00125, which equals .125%
After I posted that, another member starting utilizing 12.5%, here:

When I said I was "confused", it was my polite way of pointing out that others had it wrong. I'm well aware that .125 and 12.5% are the exact same mathematical expression, but those numbers were brought up in reference to numbers I already provided. Neither .125% nor .00125 equate to 12.5%. Hommer made an incorrect statement and I was politely correcting him. Now that your confusion is cleared up, you can hopefully recognize that I am not deficient in mathematics.

And yes, I'm a millennial. I'm an officer in the United States Army, have served over 11 years and deployed for a year each to Iraq and Afghanistan. While earning my bachelor's degree at the United States Military Academy at West Point, I took (and performed well in) probability and statistics, calculus, trigonometry, linear algebra, physics, and several courses of civil mechanical engineering. I'm fluent in three languages and just finished earning my master's degree in Germany, in the German language, which is my third language that I received only 9 months of instruction for before starting my masters degree. I graduated with a B+ GPA in both my bachelor's and master's degrees.

The fact that you are convinced that I don't understand that 12.5% and .125 are the same expression has absolutely nothing to do with who I am, or what I know. It has everything to do with your deep rooted, negative preconceived notions that millennials should be despised simply for existing. It also has to do with your inability to read critically and follow a conversation. Time for you to work on your limited meta-cognitive capabilities and break some of your failed mental models.

 

I actually have learned alot in this debate, the rising temperatures and/or vitriol notwithstanding.

Can we agree on this: the fake slab problem (and fake coin problem) ARE problems....we don't know yet if it's a very very big problem or just a small problem that is GROWING and could become bigger (and maybe at "epidemic" proportions, however you describe that).

I know that for myself, I am in the process of checking the certification number and pictures (if available) of every slabbed coin I have, numismatic or modern bullion. And I added 2 new columns to my Excel Spreadsheet inventory list....Cert Number (if verified) and Pictures Match (if they are available).

And I don't have a huge collection, maybe I have 100 total coins.

 

The genuine ones have that, just a different texture though.

 

If you think you have succeeded in nullifying everything in the article, then you are kidding yourself. You made 2 or 3 legitimate points, but all of your other criticisms came from assumptions that would have been corrected had you even read the article in the first place. You are judging something you didn’t even read. That is, by definition, academic dishonesty. You are simply exaggerating your success to distract from the real issue and to bring attention to yourself.

I have already said I will be correcting many things based on feedback from this thread. If that is not good enough for you, then your intentions must be rooted elsewhere than the truth.

That’s all that needs to be said. I won’t respond to any further message from you.

 

Quick search on Wish. Bunch of slab kits still for sale. Make your own if you want.

 

"If I collected 100 slabbed coins my chances of having a fake is increased to 12.5%"

I do not believe this is, or ever was, incorrect.

 

1. You've hardly acknowledged any of the points I made concerning your write up.
2. This isnt about my "success", but your failure.
3. All of your points were made based on assumptions, many of which cannot be verified. Which is why your conclusion is meaningless.

 

Aren't the fields supposed to be mirror-like ? How can you see a reflection in something like that ?

I know the Gold Eagles are mirrr-like.....

 

And being in the military doesn't mean that you are anywhere near good a math. I have never met anyone in the armed services who can accurately count how many beers they've had.

 

They are mirrored. They just have a marbled texture. It was to emulate the original 1913 Type I Buffalo nickel appearance. I personally really like the look.

 

I work with many US Army personnel on a daily basis who are very intelligent