Has anyone submitted a KNOWN counterfeit?

I get it, people can collect whatever they want, and they are worth whatever someone will pay. There are some who pay real money for a celebrity's clipped toenails. But we all know it is still illegal to knowingly possess, buy or sell counterfeit US coin or currency. I see the point about the TPG damaging someone else's property, point taken, but the fact that people are buying and selling illegal items for gain just because they are "famous" doesn't make it any less illegal.

 

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THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE, but to the best of my knowledge, merely possessing counterfeit coins or currency is not illegal, unless you know them to be counterfeit AND you intend on selling them or passing them off as real.

Marking "copy" on it would render it a replica rather than a counterfeit, which would protect you from legal penalties if you intend on giving it or selling it to someone else. If you intend on holding onto it, with no intent to sell it or pass it off as a real item, you're fine.

Notice these laws specifically refer to US coins and currency. (No bearing on the counterfeit Chinese coin I own then, and I don't intend to sell it or give it to someone with the intention of them thinking it's real.) Selling or giving someone counterfeit foreign coins and currency (or well, just about anything else counterfeit for that matter) with the intent of passing them off as real, under US law, could still be considered ordinary fraud though, just with no additional federal penalties.

https://acefonline.org/make-your-counterfeit-coins-legal-to-own/

https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvic...is_it_legal_to_intentionally_own_counterfeit/

Many coin stores do in fact keep counterfeit items they accidentally bought, but they keep them separate from their sales inventory, clearly mark them as counterfeit, and have no intention of selling them or giving them to anyone as if they were real. They are not breaking the law by possessing such.

In theory, selling someone, or giving someone, a counterfeit to someone that knows very well it's a counterfeit is legal, but to be safe it would be a good idea to clearly mark it with "copy" or some other obvious marking that it is not genuine. The Secret Service is probably not going to bust people for buying and selling Henning nickels for example, but best not to get too close to the line on such things.

When in doubt consult a lawyer.

 

Great conversation here.

And great insights and advice...