IDing Counterfeits

I realize that there are a lot of (mostly Chinese) counterfeits. Does anyone know of a site that lists, by type and year, known counterfeited coins?

It would be very useful to know when to be especially careful. For example, is a 1793 large cent Chain Ameri. (Sheldon-1) a likely counterfeited coin? What about a 1795 small eagle (BB-51) silver dollar?

If no such list exists, is this something that CoinTalk could start?

 

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If they tried to counterfeit a 1957 wheat cent - and they did, they will copy anything. A list of all known counterfeits would be so large as to be useless.

 

How about the ones that are worth more than $20 or so?

 

That would be every coin worth $20 or so.

 

Not to mention the coins that never existed! (ex. 1894-CC Morgan, 1879-CC Trade Dollar...)

Best advice that I have to give: search the heritage site for completed auctions and study, study, study the coins that you are interested in purchasing.

 

Time to bring back this stomach-turning thread:

http://www.cointalk.com/t94560/

 

easy, just attach a copy of the Red Book.


There, you have a complete listing.

 

StopMotion used to be a member of CoinTalk and has pretty neat site on contemporary counterfeits.

The Numismatic Enquirer

HERE:

http://www.numismaticenquirer.com/The_Numismatic_Enquirer/Home.html

 

ikandiggit: Thanks for that link, never seen those pictures.

Cringely: I don't know about such lists, and there is very little point of making one, but you can take a look at what is going on with Chinese coins sellers on eBay.

I have purchased a couple of non-US coins for my collection of counterfeits on eBay, waiting for them to arrive. Before buying, i`ve had a little research. It seems there are about 6-8 MAJOR sellers of fakes, a lot of different years, countries, types, varieties, errors. There are 2 sellers that sell amazing quality fakes, including fakes made of 90% silver.

By the way, photos show coins marked as COPY or REPLICA, but that is just a single example or maybe even PhotoShop edit, to avoid eBay ban. In reality, they all send coins without that imprint on coins.

If someone to make a list, one could just use the photos from those eBay lots, gonna save a lot of effort.

 

I agree with Taxidermist, just look in the Coins section of eBay and seach for "replica," "copy," and "reproduction." For my own education, I have puchased a few of those labled as "high quality" and it is difficult to detect problems -- except for weight. As Taxi mentioned, none come marked as "copy." I'm sure most of the buyers of these coins are not buying them for "educational" purposes.

 

It cannot be said often enough. We all think that we are experts, but success comes from humility. Study the genuine items. Anything that strays from the known norm is suspect.

Funny thing, too, but it applies in all walks of life. I went back to college and completed a bachelor's in criminology 2008 (master's in social science, 2010), and anything that strays from the norm -- rape, robbery, embezzlement, fraud, whatever -- is suspect. One of my last graduate classes was "Ethics in Physics." Same deal: if it strays from the norm, it is suspect -- or should be. Major research institutions defrauded by scientific fakery sounded so much to me like coin collectors discovering that their Seated Dollars were made in China.

Never mind the fakes. Ignore them. Stick to the truth. Know the genuine material. It is a metaphysical principle of the universe: truth is truth. Anything not truth is suspect.

 

LOL, but true, indeed!

 

I agree 100%! Want to see what is being counterfeited, open a redbook and start marking them all.. I just seen a complete set of Large Cents and a Complete set of Morgans. I have a 1964D Jefferson nickel that is counterfeit..

 

This has a bit of good information. The section on the Henning nickel is an interesting read.

It would be even more interesting if for each counterfeit listed, it was indicated if the counterfeit was contemporary or modern (some are obvious, but not all)

 

The Chinese counterfeiter who has provided interviews with Coin World (Name starts with J, can never remember it) used to have ALL of his products pictured on a photo sharing site. It's gone now, but I copied all the images before the site went down. Over 700 items. And that's just from one counterfeiter.

 

Whitman refers to this same guy as "Mr. L" in their books I believe.

Whenever someone has an archival reference need, check with Conder. He keeps everything

 

His name is jinghuashei, Liu jinghuashei. See http://shop.ebay.com/jinghuashei/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686

 

His business is blooming, it seems. I noticed he got at least 2 different shops on eBay with different seller usernames.

He probably being reported on a weekly, if not daily, basis, but still around. The business must be also good for eBay.

 

It seems my order has been processed by our old friend Jinghuashei short time before his shop became unavailable on eBay.

Here are a couple of his recent creations. On my way from post office i showed one to a dealer that collects/sells coins pretty much all of his life. He didn't spot the 1$ is fake (maybe because he trusts me, maybe because he had no magnification glass) and was rather surprised when i told him what it is. Golden coin looks like copper, not natural gold color at all, but the 1$ looks amazing.