NGC and Contemporary Counterfeits

And I suppose I should have added that the Russian counterfeits were made to spec. They were the right size, weight, and fineness in every case. In point of fact the only way they can differentiated from genuine coins is by die diagnostics. I just wish the TPGs would learn them all and make use of them. I've even provided the TPGs with the necessary information and documentation to do so. But some how they still manage to only catch a few and miss far, far, more than they ever catch !

I have no problem whatsoever with them grading and slabbing the coins, as long as they mark them as being Russian counterfeits - like those I pictured above.

The reason the Russians began counterfeiting them, and continued to do so for 150 years, was because the Netherlands gold ducats were the most widely and readily accepted coins in the entire world. No other nation's coins were as accepted as theirs were - none !

As I wrote many years ago, Netherlands gold ducats are directly responsible for the world as we know it today ! Had it not been for them, we'd live in an entirely differently place.