They were only $5, it was a busy hot windy flea market day... whoops! Not even 20 grams each and magnetic. What do people usually do with these things?
I'm pretty sure the seller knew they weren't authentic, since they were charging $5... It's like someone selling a Gucci bag for $10, after all.
the coin on the right for $5 should have tipped you off that they were fake. those coins go for much more money.
It was the only two coins he had and they were inside old cardboard flips, I figured he just didn't know what he had, and I was quickly going from booth to booth. But the question was about what to do next, not about what I've already done! ;-) Like do people collect fakes? Can I get a stamp to mark them copy, and then recirculate, etc?
I think you should use them as lessons / education. If you have good ethics, please do not attempt to sell them.
I have a stamp I had made with the word COPY I stamp into fakes. Then I give them away to kids. A permanent marker might be ok to mark them with and then just give them away.
Thanks for the suggestions of what to do when you screw up and lose a few bucks on fakes: 1) simply throw them away 2) keep them as mementos of a lesson learned 3) mark them as copy and eventually give them back to the world I want to do #3, which I think is better than #1 or #2 because no matter what the coins will never victimize another buyer again. And by marking and re-circulating people can see experience the total numismatic garbage, thus allowing them to maybe appreciate better the real thing. Question is, how do I buy or make a "copy" stamp that I can hammer into the coin?
Just stamp the flip with copy/fake or whatever then sell it for 5$ But advertise that it is fake. Some collectors will buy the coin as a reference so this way when they go to buy the real thing they can compre it to whether the real one is actually fake or not.
This doesn't accomplish what the OP claims they want. Once it's out of the flip, it's a counterfeit potentially once again. As for the "copy" stamp... it will probably cost you $10, which is ironic in its own right. The reason I think the stamp will be so expensive is two-fold: 1) It has to be harder than the coin. Since the coins are magnetic, they're likely a harder metal, since I think ferous metals are. 2) It will have to be small to fit on the coin... which goes back to it being hard (and potentially hard to shape/work with).
i actually have bought a few really good fake US coins before for educational tools. I would just stamp or scratch fake into them and keep them to learn from.
Borrow someone's dremel moto-tool with a small bit and inscribe a Copy on the back and sell or keep as reference.
Love the ideas on how to mark them as fakes. I have a dremel didn't even think of that, although I think a hammered stamp, if I could find a small/strong one, would look better and could be used on future fakes. Marked or not one could keep them long term, but to me seems better karma and discipline to mark them somehow before stashing. Almost as if the destructive act of counterfeiting requires the constructive act of permanently marking and preserving. Probably thinking too far about this though ;-)
