I want to buy this coins, but the only issue that seller says it weights 5.7 grams, and I made my little research and all the coins from that time weighs 6.54. Did I miss something? He says that he will accept returns, but he is in Poland . Any help appreciated.
Hard to see for sure from those photos. Looks fake to me at this point, quite a few things look wrong.
This coin if genuine would be worth significantly more than bullion value. This is easily a coin that is worth more than 2000 dollars even in F condition. I am thinking of a catalog Uzdenikov - which you may be able to obtain for around 50 dollars. While this book is published a decade ago, it is still an important foundation for Imperial Russian coins. This is a copy. I believe the edge is not reeded from memory.
It wasn't just the US that held gold coins to extremely tight tolerances back then. I would expect just about ANY gold coin that weighed more than .1 to .2 grams off from the specified weight to be counterfeit. (Unless it is worn slick.)
Thank you for all replies. Transaction cancelled and buyer reported to eBay, but listings still not removed. Even the final price was too cheap for this coins. Here is the link and according to his feedback not many buyers made their research before paying, which is sad. He sold a lot of Russian Imperial coins. http://www.ebay.com/itm/171899868493?_trksid=p2060353.m2750.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT
At this point, ebay doesn't care and the onus goes to the buyers if they have not done their research. Given that there is no 'copyright' claims and there is no official organization to determine what is genuine / fake (other than the TPGs) - sellers can continue to make fat profits. If this trend continues, it actually damages the reputation of sellers who make an effort to sell genuine coins. Here's my experience. There was a time when I had a buyer insulting me with an offer as he referenced the price off a sold counterfeit. This was a 100+ dollar coin and he wanted to purchase it for less than 30 dollars including shipping. I told him that he is more than welcome to buy a counterfeit at that price. Not only did he refuse to acknowledge what was sold was a counterfeit, he was cheeky enough to reply that I should be happy as it seemed he is the one doing the favor taking the coin off me. Needless to say, he didn't require my business and had him blocked promptly.
Crooks try to get away by using the word 'novodel' which is NOT the right termology for it. A novodel is an official restrike by the mint which may have some modifications to it.
