Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;davidh, post: 1267755, member: 15062&quot;]Aside from the legal and moral issues, if a counterfeit coin is indistinguishable from a mint-made coin, is it less valuable or desirable?&nbsp; There are probably hundreds of counterfeits that are currently accepted as genuine, and may never be detected as counterfeit.&nbsp; At what point do they actually become real?&nbsp; I&#039;m thinking Colonials, Half Cents, Large Cents and early silver with wear obliterating key identifying points.</p><p><br /></p><p>Other coins are felt to be counterfeit but can&#039;t be proven to be so and are accepted as real, e.g., the 1959 Wheat Cent.</p><p><br /></p><p>If collectors, dealers, graders, the Mint and the Secret Service can all be fooled, then it seems that a counterfeit can actually be as good as, and equal to a genuine coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>In my (probably not shared) opinion, if you are collecting for value and resale (investing) then accurate counterfeits may be a problem, but if you are collecting for visual pleasure then the design is what counts and an accurate copy is probably good enough.&nbsp; I have counterfeits (cearly marked&nbsp; as such) in my type set simply because I can&#039;t afford an original example in any condition greater than P1.</p><p><br /></p><p>For what it&#039;s worth, I have no problem with identifying counterfeits with COPY.&nbsp; I don&#039;t feel it should be as large as currently required; I think it should be laser micro-etched at a specific place on the coin, say at 6 o&#039;clock on the obverse, just inside the rim, or inside the O of STATES <u>O</u>F AMERICA.&nbsp; This would be small enough to be clearly visible only under magnification - something like the ways diamonds are etched with ID numbers on their edge.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in