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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Collector1966, post: 1260036, member: 17919&quot;]I am going to tell you something right now. I love this hobby. With the exception of a few gold coins and the Gobrecht dollars, I have owned every type of US coin made since 1800. And with the exceptions of a few periods during the recession of the early ‘80s, I have been continuously involved with numismatics since 1966. During that time, I have witnessed the removal of silver from circulating coinage, the abolition of the remaining restrictions on gold ownership by American citizens, the silver and gold boom-and-bust period of the ‘70s and ‘80s, and the advent of “slabbing” as the next step beyond simple authentication, among other events. </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>In the early days of my collecting, the biggest concern seemed to be not buying a fake coin, but buying one that was overgraded or harshly cleaned. Of course, there were fakes back then, but they were usually of the key coins or high-dollar type coins, so they were not so much concern for me at that time. Then the ANA began to provide its authentication service in the ‘70s, and that gave a little peace of mind for people like me who were beginning to delve into key, type, and US gold coins. I basically stuck with buying directly from local and mail order dealers I could trust, and I don’t think any of them ever sold me a fake coin during those years. Overgraded, sometimes. Slightly damaged, occasionally. But never a fake.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Fast forward to the 2000s. In the first few years of the new century, I was still pretty trusting of dealers and coins offered by strangers. That turned to be a big mistake because I wound up buying a fake from a trusted dealer, and it was not until several years later, after she had passed on, that I found out it was not genuine.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Today we have a big problem in this hobby, and that is an avalanche of fake coins coming mainly from China. Susan Headley has done some remarkable work in bringing this to the attention of collectors. This problem has become so bad that even the US Mint has issued an advisory about Chinese fakes.&nbsp; <a href="http://coins.about.com/b/2009/11/11/u-s-mint-warns-about-chinese-made-counterfeit-coins.htm" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://coins.about.com/b/2009/11/11/u-s-mint-warns-about-chinese-made-counterfeit-coins.htm" rel="nofollow">http://coins.about.com/b/2009/11/11/u-s-mint-warns-about-chinese-made-counterfeit-coins.htm</a>&nbsp; Some of these fakes have become so good that they fool even experienced dealers.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>In this forum recently, I have pointed out three coins that my gut-- and eyes-- tell me are of dubious authenticity. I have pointed out what I believe are problem areas, as well as posting side-by-side photos of the dubious and known genuine coins to make my point. Yet I have been berated for making “unfounded” claims of phony coins, while the main counter to my arguments seems to be “It looks right to me”. </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>One coin that bothered me was a 1917 quarter. There are so many problems with that coin that even if it is genuine, it is not worth anywhere near what was paid for it.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Another coin that bothered me was a 1921 Morgan dollar. The general consensus seems to be, “It’s super common, so who would counterfeit such a coin?” But coins of lesser value are counterfeited all the time. I have a 1947 Canadian quarter and a Swiss 2 francs, for example, that are obviously counterfeits, and obviously worth less than a 21 Morgan, and yet someone thought it would still be profitable to counterfeit them. Back to the 21 Morgan, two pictures taken at different times of supposedly the same coin did not match up in certain places-- particularly part of the motto. I showed a side-by-side comosite of these two photos of the “same” coin to some non-collectors, and they immediately recognized discrepancies in the lettering, including lack of some serifs on one of the coin photos. </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>The third coin was an 1881-S that looked a little too perfect. This coin was picked up by someone who apparently has absolutely no knowledge of American silver dollars, but somehow was able to have an MS-66+ coin just fall into his lap-- a coin, I might add, that looks a lot like some of the coins on a website that features fake coins in fake holders. <a href="http://s758.photobucket.com/albums/xx230/rarecoin/?start=all" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://s758.photobucket.com/albums/xx230/rarecoin/?start=all" rel="nofollow">http://s758.photobucket.com/albums/xx230/rarecoin/?start=all</a></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Who knows, I might be wrong about my suspicions. But merely saying “It looks right to me” without pointing out why my concerns are wrong-- such as showing pictures of known genuine coins that exhibit the same characteristics of the dubious coin-- is not enough, I think. </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>In closing, I want to say that I have no grief with anyone in this forum who is truly interested in coins and numismatics. I have no member on Ignore, and I often click “Like” for coins and ideas that other members have posted. But what I don’t like is fake coins, and the people who make and wittingly sell them. Given the number of even common fakes that seem to be entering our hobby, I think it is only prudent to be on our guard and voice our concerns when a coin doesn’t appear to be kosher to us.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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