Well, perhaps I should be minding my own business more, but here is my morning's interesting discussion. Here is the link to the auction, should you care to see it yourself: 10+ 1877 Indian HeadLincoln Pennies Corroded Cull, Good 1-Cent - Cleaned ! | eBay
Based upon his use of grade school grammar I rather have my suspicions about his "been in business fifty years" claim..... And isn't it odd that only the 1877 is beat up? I wouldn't pay any more attention to this crook.
I have. I post this here only to show what kind of people are selling these counterfeit coins. It is really sad. I pity whoever buys this lot, seeing that there is already a bid and multiple people watching it.
Fifty-five years means nothing. Anybody can screw up. You can also be a dealer who has been in business for 55 years who has lost his fast ball. He might not see as well any more, or he might not have been that good in the first place.
I am reminded of a Japanese proverb that goes "Don't be fooled by a craftsman that claims they have 20 years of experience, when they've really only had 1 year of experience, 20 times."
Protesting loudly and threatening a ridiculous, going to call my lawyer going to sue you bluff, is clearly the person is selling a fake. And knows it.
When you loose your 'smoke' you gotta resort to the 'slider', changeup or curve. This guy is throwing a 'Bouton Balloon Ball' of deception.....
*The trouble with the Twain (Clemens) attribution on that quote: there's no evidence he ever actually said it. But it does sound like him.
As for the Mark Twain thing, the net says maybe Jean Cocteau. I thought maybe Lincoln said something like this but I don't see it on the intrawebz. There is an old Jewish saying, older than Mark Twain, don't waste your time arguing with an idiot.
Proverbs 26:4, Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.
PS - A shallow N is not the mark of all 1877's IHC's. The proofs have a bold N. But yeah it is fake. I did report the 1877 as fake - but one of the reasons I really quit messing with EBAY. They just don't seem to take listings down that are fakes - some even more obvious than this one. I will say this - both fake coins my dad bought was fully refunded (now not sure if ebay got it back from seller). Ebay basically refunded the money and said keep the coin.
LOL - AI Strikes again. I could report it again another way - but oh well. So I took a snap of the 1877 obverse and ran it thru chatgpt for fun. It said I would not trust this as genuine 1877 and then laid out reasons why. What happened: We looked into your report and didn’t find the listing to be in violation of our policy. This determination was made using automation or artificial intelligence.
You can't buy valuable coins on Ebay because they are not trustworthy. A coin could be slabbed, it's meaningless as the buyer can just show a photo of a coin in a slab, and then you can still get a POS Chinese knock off in a fake slab. Then do you want to go through all the trouble of getting a refund? It's not worth it. B and M and coin shows, and only use trusted online sites who have reputations of fair dealing and quality products. Ebay is a dinosaur and their reputation is zero.
I have gotten some great deals on eBay, but you are right that the overall reputation of eBay has greatly declined. Sadly, positive feedback does not always mean a lot either from a seller. My budget is too small for the coin shows I have seen and unfortunately actual coin shops are also disappearing. A return was not too bad, but now eBay only offers a guarantee for a few days rather than 30 (new policy change). It would be neat to see coin clubs offering more swap meets. Perhaps that already happens. That doesn't guarantee that the coins are genuine, but hopefully mostly honest people looking for a good time would make the majority.
I got many good deals on Ebay years ago. But I won't buy through them anymore because they are untrustworthy. While they are only the middleman, the clearinghouse, they take no responsibility for all the fakes, counterfeits etc. that pass through their hands because all they care about is their commission. They are a conduit for counterfeits and bad sellers and they take no responsibility or penalty for what they are doing. Basically what they are doing is illegal. Because they know that counterfeits and bad sellers are moving merchandise through them and are pretty much protected. This is a disgrace.
I totally agree. I have reported a lot of counterfeit stamps and eBay never does anything. Same with coins. It seems that the S.S. would be onto eBay for all the bad stamps that go through there, but apparently not.
