I have collected areas where items were faked very heavily. The older fakes were the ones easy to tell as they were not as sophisticated. The collectors would even have categories of known fakes for comparison to other collectors items. Has anyone thought about doing that here? Putting up a fake category so we can post fakes as they come up? From what I have seen of faking and counterfeits the fakes do not usually make one or two they make a bunch. You may see older fakes pop up her and there but newer ones usually hit the market it a wave. You will see a particular fake all over for a bit. The Chinese are faking Morgans right now. They are all over the place and would fool anyone not into Morgan silver dollars. I have two I bought to study and try to get a feel for what is out there. I bought a PMD Sigma to use to test coins. So far its picked out the known fakes I have in silver. Some of the Ancient fakes are just obvious and to me are really made as copies not counterfeits. Personally I have bought a few off of eBay. Only low end coins and graded and cased coins I can look at the grading site to make sure its the same coin. I then buy from Vcoins where there are dealers who can not afford to mess around with fakes. It would destroy their reputation to knowingly do so. Anyway if you have counterfeits or fakes post them here for us to look at.
While putting up a gallery of known fakes here is not a bad idea, I've heard some say that it is best to post them on some of the established databases out there rather than starting new galleries, so as to centralize the information and not dilute it by having it scattered all around the Internet. But having another thread about them here certainly doesn't hurt. Thankfully, I do not (knowingly) own any fakes. All of the coins in my primary collection are certified by PCGS and NGC, though with the Chinese and others making fake slabs now, even that is not a bulletproof protection. There is no substitute for knowledge.
There are many fake mint errors being manufactured. Many are sold on Etsy.com I've seen Fake Copper 1943 Cents P,D&S 1955 Doubled Die 1969 Doubled Die These somehow fall in the hands of new collectors and can be bad for them. Many think they have found something real and with premiums.. it's sad.
Boy, you're not kidding! Yeesh, look at how many fake 1909-S VDB cents this seller has actually sold! I pity the poor fools who bought them, no doubt for $300-something each. (Those aren't fake errors- except for one "1955 double die" cent, but rather fake key dates. Note the laughable 1877 Indian cent.)
I don't know much about the 55 double stamp, but from what I have read about it, it was much more subtle than this example.
Hehe.. that's funny. Doubled Die varieties are not a double stamp issue. Never. It's doubling created during the hubbing process to create the die. Hence.. Doubled Die
Ignorance is not funny. We are lucky to have "experts" like Paddy in this forum. I have worked with several folks who think they know something. They take great pleasue to point out the slightest thing in a way that may be considered degrading to some. What these fools don't know is how much they are disrespected behind their back for all the errors they make that no one bothers to point out. He who laughs last gets the greatest satisfaction.
Forum Ancient Coins have a fakes database which contains details of researched and proven fakes, as opposed to unresearched opinions. I don´t see the need to start another list. Just my opinion
For ancient coin fakes, what you're describing sounds like Forum's Fake Reports gallery which includes many thousands of forgeries of all types (all types of fakery of all types of ancient coin): https://www.forumancientcoins.com/fakes/ If I have concerns or am checking for someone else, it's the first place I check, and often find a match
In the 10+ years I have been a member on CoinTalk I actually have never claimed to be an "expert".. I see my self more as a Error Specialist
paddyman98, posed: "In the 10+ years I have been a member on CoinTalk I actually have never claimed to be an "expert".. I see my self more as a Error Specialist ] You are too modest.
Well known Mint Error guys like Mike Diamond, Fred Weinberg are the real Experts. They are the big league players. I'm in the minor league.
I saw that he mentioned US and World etc coinage but assumed he was referring to Ancient coins in his post, as this is the Ancient sub forum. After 24 hours or so it will dissappear onto page 2 and further later on. Out of site and out of mind will result in people posting their own observations, this will then mean that Mods will need to keep moving threads to keep everything in one place. Other than pinning to the top of a page or creating a sub forum I can´t see a workable solution.
Reddit r/ancientcoins and r/coins seems to have a lot of 'ID this coin', which turns out to be a fake. Certainly not authoritative or searchable, but has been educational. As I am not a specialist at spotting 'Errors' yet, working on buying from reputable dealers/auction houses.
Reputable dealers is a good way to help. But I know they can make mistakes or if the counterfeiters have made a better fake that is not that well known. That said when I collected WW2 German and Japanese war medals the fakers kept getting better and better, but the dealers could still tell when in hand. They were just that good. I am sure the coin dealers are also. But if they get in a hurry of just miss something it can slip through.
