Lets see you fake and counterfeit coins. From any place any country. Let me tell you a story, I saw a 1854 silver dollar on eBay it is was located in Hong Kong china. The high bid was 6.00 dollars so I took a shot and won. A month later it got here and had the right obverse but the wrong reverse. I droped it on the table and it did not sound like silver. So I wasted 6.50 dollars on a fake coin. Have fun posting!!!
Back in May I was looking for a Trade dollar. Did my due diligence, and researched everything I could about counterfeits, and searched ebay for a few weeks for one that was nice looking, and reasonably priced. Came across a raw '77 (P) with a BIN of $99 or so (it was more then $90, but less then $100). Spent over an hour studying the pics, downloaded them, and did overlays with coins from Heritage, etc. Only thing I was worried about was that it was located in Japan, but as the TD was intended to be used in the Orient, I thought it somewhat reasonable for it to be located there. I went ahead and bought it. While waiting for a package from Japan, I get a package from Morocco. Hmm, I say to myself. I open it up, and there's my Trade dollar. But something looks off. Yup, different coin. Nothing genuine about it. After a couple of phone calls, I had my money back, and the seller got the nastiest feedback I've ever written in my 18 yrs on ebay. I didn't save the photos of the coin in the auction (if I did I can't find them), but here's the fake -
Early in my Parthian coin-collecting phase, I somehow bought this on eBay: There are multiple signs of casting (which I leave for you all to spot), but the real kicker is that the obverse and reverse don't even belong together- they are from coins minted about a hundred years apart. It's like the fake "1865" dollar I've seen pictures of here, with obverse copied from a Washington quarter- no need to look for signs of casting or tiny flaws in the design, it can safely be rejected immediately.
Was at a flea market yesterday when a vendor gave me three "Chinese" coins to look at. I had a fairly strong magnet in a cloth bag and the coins leaped up to clang against it. He innocently looks at me and asks "does that that mean they are no good" and when I answered yes, he just dropped them back in the pile. He then showed me an "ancient" coin he had for $300 and I pointed out the casting seam to him.
