Would you gamble on this?

Sure there are, but there are also reasons like not understanding how their camera or auto focus works (how many times here have we seen someone post a photo with a nice clear background and blurred coin?), laziness, or even stupidity among others. The notion that a poor photo must automatically mean the offering is a sham is simply ludicrous. The same goes for a seller with little, even zero, feedback; while it may have been a good idea to at least build a few buying feedback first just for show, it doesn't prove anything, and every single seller on ebay had to start somewhere. Should such a listing be approached cautiously? Sure, but so should every potential transaction with an unknown party/individual. Plus, the last I knew ebay was happy to withhold payment from new sellers, so if still true, it could be argued that such purchases actually offer an additional level of protection.

 

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Ditto...and I like its natural color in spite of the image. Now if these guys sell coins and don't ship, there is no defense.

 

Part of paying the price is being able to personally assure that particular fake will never be sold again. I'll melt it into a puddle if there's no educational reason to keep it.

 

IMO, there is always a reason to keep/buy fakes - especially for educational purposes. That's why I collect them and it is extremely hard to get "deceptive ones" as the people who own them have paid dearly.

Perhaps a better solution besides fire would be to donate them to the ANA for their classes or save them to use in a coin club talk.

I need to get some of the DECEPTIVE counterfeit Trade dollars that were written up in the FUN magazine and one or two of the 1795 or 1796 Draped Bust fakes. Coins of this quality that were slabbed by the TPGS's at first are gems! They cost an arm and a leg. Perhaps one day they will be as valuable/collectible as the counterfeit "Micro O" Morgan dollars.

 

I agree.

 

lol so true

 

See my answer to your Quote in the "How to tone coins" thread for the reason I don't feel the need to keep counterfeits.

 

I don't really keep counterfeits either, unless they are collectible contemporary ones. If they're decent quality and potentially can fool someone, I take detailed photos for comparison of markers with future examples. Then I take note of the physical characteristics (dimensions, weight, specific gravity, smell, response to magnetic slide for coins that are supposed to be silver). After that I no longer need the actual coin so I am free to pass it on for educating someone else.

 

I dunno. That's a bit like me saying I'm a scavenger, not an omnivore, because I only eat animals that are already dead. My demand is still responsible (marginally, incrementally) for more animals being killed; your demand is (marginally, incrementally) responsible for more fakes being made.

 

Yeah, there's that, but at least I can break the chain by ensuring it won't deceive another, ever again.

 

I'll bet it's because you know how to detect all of them?

 

I'll bet this was a great answer/comparison but it went wayyyyy over my head and I went to graduate school. I read it three times too. Maybe its just my bedtime but I sure wish you would break this down for idiots such as me.

 

Probably not just you, I'm tired too.

I eat meat. (Sometimes.) If someone says "how can you kill animals for your food?", I can say "I don't kill animals; they're dead long before I eat them." Doesn't matter; I'm still responsible for their deaths, because I'm contributing to the demand for dead animals. ("If I didn't eat them, someone else would" -- but there'd be a bit less demand, and a few fewer animals killed to meet it.)

Similarly, if you buy a counterfeit "to take it off the market", you're still rewarding the people who made it (and those who resold it). "If I didn't buy it, someone else would" -- but there'd be a bit less demand, and the fakers would make a bit less money.

 

Lots of copies for $2 - $3 at aliexpress.

Here's one: http://www.aliexpress.com/item/1883..._9&btsid=726da28f-195b-4720-8ef6-4512a3720ca4



And a "toner" version: http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Unit..._9&btsid=726da28f-195b-4720-8ef6-4512a3720ca4

 

Yup, they make them of all the denominations as well. From dime to dollar

 

No, it's because I can image them with such excruciating accuracy that a physical coin is no longer necessary. If I could afford an XRF analyzer, I'd be golden.

 

If you can take a decent photo from an Ebay action and improve it so it looks like the Large cent you quizzed me on (that coin is sharp enough to authenticate/grade) you need to sell the technique!

I like to view coin facts to see what genuine coins look like BUT compared to your "chop" their photographers are rookies!

 

Nobody can make much of a physical improvement on poor imagery - the "Enhance" button is only for television crime shows - but one advantage to having shot forty bazillion images of your own on a deliberate learning curve, and looking at a thousand images a week from others, is that you learn you interpret those poor images to a more accurate degree than a less-experienced onlooker. You reach the point where White Balance failures tend to correct themselves subconsciously, and can often discern the difference between pixelation from subpar camera sensors/small images and genuine coin features (or the lack thereof, which is the important part).

And I'll say again, there is no reason why anyone whose budget allows for an occasional MS65 Morgan or similar cannot acquire both the equipment and skill to become a professional-level coin photographer. $500 tops - if you're willing to buy used - to be one of those folks whose images inspire jealousy.

There is no such thing as a free lunch. You get better at interpreting digital imagery the same way you get better at grading - experience. The benefit of having viewed every single new US coin thread for ten years at a thriving coin forum, as well as the other fora I've participated at during the same period - not only for the images contained therein but for the feedback from others viewing and offering opinion (extremely important, as long as you know that you're not infallible and are therefore always willing to be wrong, and learn) - is that I now have probably as much experience as anyone, anywhere, at interpreting coin photography at all levels of skill. It's a slow week when I don't devote at least 25-30 hours to this stuff, and I don't have more than a couple slow weeks a year, and I've been doing it for more than a decade. It's an all-consuming passion for me, the place where I've chosen to leave my mark on the world.

That's why I speak with such confidence about coins viewed only from imagery. And I'm probably correct - within the tolerances of the image quality offered - 90 times out of 100. Unfortunately, it's those other 10 times I get remembered for, because they're usually doozies.

 

full image of anything larger than a nickel.


I stopped playing guess the grade threads after joining CT because I was 1 for 3 and it was embarrassing; however, your photo of the Large cent made grading it a snap.

In the 80's I was a pretty good action photographer - motorized Nikon, great lenses, etc. Never switched to digital as it was sooooooooooo crude in the beginning. I have one on my microscope now but not set up to take an image larger than a nickel as I don't need full images for my needs.

 

No.