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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;huntsman53, post: 177937, member: 1242&quot;]Ben,</p><p><br /></p><p>Yes, it takes a lot of experience and knowledge to authenticate coins and even grade coins correctly! Heck, there was recently an article in Coin World about a big Coin Shindig in China where the U.S. Coin Dealers found hundreds of counterfeited (I think they were Peace Dollars) coins mixed in with thousands of authentic coins. Out of the many Coin Dealers that purchased some of these, only one picked up on the fact that quite a few of the coins were counterfeit and real good counterfeits at that! After getting the word and what to look for, the other Coin Dealers weeded out the counterfeits that they were sold and took most of them back for a refund but kept a few for comparison in the futuire and for research. There are some seminars on grading and authentication taught across the Country but they may be hard to locate and to attend. There are many books on both that can be purchased through Book Stores, Book websites, eBay and through some Coin Dealers and a person can become self taught but all of the books in the world can not replace the experience of studying counterfeit and real coins in hand. Many Coin Dealers at Coin Shows will have counterfeited coins to look at and even for sell. I have purchased quite a few counterfeit coins and have learned from my mistakes in the past and I have seen, held and studied hundreds more since then and learned what to look for.</p><p><br /></p><p>A Coin Show can be one of the best resources of information and to gain knowledge about coins and you don&#039;t have to purchase or sell coins to attend! Visit as many of the Coin Dealers as possible, check out their&#039; various assortment of coins, ask questions and try to make it to one or more of the booths that the Coin Grading Service Companies have at the Coin Show. Take some of your nicer coins and any coins in question and have the Representative check them out, give you a verbal grade and ask them lots of questions about the coins in question. If you can, hang around to see what others bring to the booth and if any counterfeited coins are checked, then ask if you can look at the coin and again ask questions.</p><p><br /></p><p>I also deplore the oneupmanship that is seen in a lot of discussions on coin group/list sites! It is good to debate an issue but to bash a poster&#039;s comments or take on a &quot;How Dare You question My Knowledge or Authority&quot; attitude, does not belong on any website or forum. We all ingest other&#039;s writings in different ways and what may be simple discussion to some, will be viewed as attacks by others. This is many times the case in forum disputes, so we all need to take a break at times to re-read our&#039; and other&#039;s postings to see what is actually being said and not respond right away when we our emotions can get the best of us!</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>The Other, Other Frank[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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