I am seeing more and more dodgy auctions from CNG...I posted a few before where they were selling obvious fakes, something that seems to be slipping by them more and more? (most get caught by others and yanked when they are pointed out, others get sold) This one is a bit more odd: CNG is trying to sell a 10.21 gram fake Jewish War Year 1 half shekel for $200 http://www.cngcoins.com/Bid.aspx?Item_ID=140164 They admit all the problems including the wieght: "This bronze coin was apparently struck from official half shekel dies, as the weight rules out the possibility of this being the core of a fourrée, and the style is comparable to official issues. It also is not likely to be a remnant of an emergency issue, as there were abundant quantities of silver available. Likewise, it is not an error strike on bronze, as no bronze coins of this module were struck at this time. Thus, this is a coin that was intentionally struck, and used official dies. Only two possibilities seem logical: a trial strike or an off-metal strike for a souvenir piece." To quote the man who brought this to my attention 'HOW ABOUT A CHEAP TOURIST FAKE?!?!' CNG might check out the Menorah Coin Project and see that these dies were never used to strike authentic coins. http://www.menorahcoinproject.org/h656.htm Here are other Judaean fakes sold by CNG and others http://www.menorahcoinproject.org/images/Tooled/Fakes%20sold%20by%20big%20companies%202.jpg What I mainly wonder is how they come up with the price of 200 dollars for this? It seems like with many auction houses like CNG...it doesnt matter WHAT it is, it just needs to be priced above 200 dollars which is why, more and more, I dont like using auction house final pricing as a standard...its jacked up to cover costs thus it jacks up prices all around by justifying higher prices because of previous sales. Why didnt they just pass on this? Thanks to Cliff of the CFDL for having an almost maniacal obsession for exposing fakes...
