Check out these coins. The price alone should throw up flags. http://m.ebay.com/sch/i.html?sid=lltlove&_pgn=1&isRefine=true
Some of the worst I've seen I tried to report them but it says their making changes to check back soon. Ohh well. Hopefully whoever sees them knows a little about coins.
That's the biggest problem with such easy availability of counterfeits. Not everybody entering numismatics knows to seek out online communities like this, and learn. I'll bet there are some pretty "complete" collections out there, formed by relative loners, which they'd be shocked (and financially brutalized) to learn are mostly cleaned coins and fakes.
I am certain that those who are not familiar with identifying fakes would love to hear your opinions/diagnostics on why such a coin is a fake. It may take a few extra minutes of your time, but the shared knowledge will be immeasurable to those who learn a thing or two. To me, the obverse has the most that strikes as being off (pun intended). The I in Pluribus, something going on below her hair, and the numbers on the date look off to me.
This is not about forums or numismatics only. It's common sense. How come that this seller has dozens of rare coins available at once? And more importantly, why is he selling them at a fraction of real value?
That's a pretty good start. Another meta factor is that the seller has zero Feedback as a seller, and none as a buyer within the last 6 months. And none numismatic-related. And all of a sudden he's got multiple examples of scarce dates? I don't think so. The rest, unfortunately, is experience. The more you know about what a coin should look like, the easier it is for you to identify a counterfeit.
Is it possible to contact the winning bidders to let them know about this? If possible, I'm sure they would be beholding to you. They could ask to cancel their orders "Buyer Remorse".
I know it was in days past, but today? I'm not so sure. As for winning bidders being pleased with such news, don't count on it. Sure, some would be, but others would not take kindly to it, and are blissful wallowing in their ignorance, seeing only what they want to. This isn't to say that, if even possible, it wouldn't be worth the shot, but only that one shouldn't expect to all to appreciate or take kindly it.
I can see your point. Some would likely think you were calling them ignorant or worse, might backfire. Let sleeping dogs lay.
Another Ebayer once contacted me about an Ebay auction that didn't mention software compatibility. I then realized that I had bid on an item that I, or probably many people, couldn't use for a price well above value. I canceled the bid and highly appreciated the outside feedback. But I agree it's a hard call.
That's pretty much it in a nutshell... this isn't something I personally did, but some years back a fellow I knew, after being burned, went on a crusade when it was still easy to learn buyers identities. Some of the respose he received were downright hostile.
I want to share these photos for those that missed out on the action/auction. Mainly for educational purposes as I know many will have questions. I don't know if it is a good idea or teaching tool, to point out just exactly is wrong here. I think a better way is to give the inexperienced a tool that they can compare to known valid or real coin photos. It really should be an easy determination with a comparison.
Nicely done, Hommer. You've just made these into a searchable piece of data for future teaching about fakes. The trouble with these is, the problems are difficult to describe - *everything* about them is wrong, but only slightly wrong. They're fakes at a glance, but only because I've glanced at a whole bunch of Morgans, and it'd take paragraphs and/or discussion to list all the little things. Pics are worth thousands of words.
