Counterfeiting Coins

With some dealers now being fooled, Have any TPG's been fooled by all these counterfeit coins out there? If not, will this become a threat in the future?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Being a dealer does not equal knowledge I know some dealers that I could sell a donkey to as a horse. So yes dealers will and have been fooled. Where there is money to be had people will make a mistake.
Regards to Tpg´s I think it would very hard getting one trough them. But the fakes are getting better but I think they are a long way from getting one trough that was made from scratch in china.

 

Anyone can be fooled. Look at the art world. Some famous artworks had be verified as authentic for decades only to be discovered years later that they were fakes.

As technology advances so will the counterfeiter's methods.

 

Actually a very nice looking fake~~

 

The most famous counterfeits that made it into several TPG's holders were the Micro-O Morgans that are now believed to have been minted in the 1930s when silver was about 25 cents an ounce and one could make a profit by making the coins. The coins were only noticed as counterfeits when it had been determined that the reverses from several different dates all had the same dimple in the design. And if you can find one that is identified as the Micro-O variety from those years, 1902 stands out for some reason - they are worth more than the originals, especially in the TPG holders.

 

So where is this diagnostic dimple?

 

Hey Doug, I may be wrong but isn't that same coin being offered right now on the bay?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1841-LILY-Netherland-Gold-Ducat-MS-62-NGC-Rare-/400242553853?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5d3050b3fd

Yep, I just checked it out further!!

 

What he is talking about is a repeating depression that was found on several 1896,1900, and 1902 Morgan dollars. It is believed the same counterfeit die made from a genuine 1899 Micro O reverse was used. I marked where the depression should be.

There was a good article in the July issue of The Numismatist about them.

 

Even as a fake it's a great looking counterfeit. That said, if the guy on ebay knows that it's a fake then that's just wrong for him to be selling it without saying so. BTW, anyone know if the subject coin has any real gold in it?

 

They were made to be monetary instruments in Russia - the intent was to evade the Dutch of course, but these ducats had to be proper weight and fineness or they would have been wasting their time. The old saying "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" comes to mind.

 

Amazing info Doug! How much do you think it's actually worth, if anything at all?

 

That counterfeit is going for way more than its gold. People must think it is real.

 

I guess this is where you have the saying, buy the coin, not the slab (because the slab is wrong in this case)

 

Very interesting. I have only seen a couple fakes make it into slabs, and in both cases they were also Russian coins. One was an extremely rare gold 3 Rouble from the 1870s. The reverse had all the symptoms that made it an obvious fake.

 

As Huel Howzer would say, that's amazing!! Seems like the gov't of Russia was trying to overthrow the monetary system of the Dutch. Some theorists would say that China is about to do that to us, idk but it's certainly a scary thought.