Back in the late 80's Gary Fernandez got caught counterfeiting PCGS rattler slabs. PCGS bought all of the counterfeits off the market that they could, and switched to a slab that was harder to counterfeit. Since there are still plenty of rattler holders on the market, what would stop someone else from counterfeiting rattler slabs and placing lower grade, AT, tooled and counterfeit coins in them? Should PCGS try to reholder all of the rattler slabs? Charlie
I know that Coin World ran an article awhile backl about fake TPG slabs even showing some of these examples that were "selling" on eBay. Where did they originate from? The Far East of course!! Anybody should excercise EXTREME CAUTION if they but anything from the Far East, especially gold and US Trade Dollars. Matter of fact, you would be a fool to buy from a seller on eBay who is selling from China or any of those places. As for the rattler PCGS slabs, that's a tough call. Many of them still carry premiums and I would encourage all to look up the PCGS registration number first before buying. Here's what one looks like for newcomers:
