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Message:: [QUOTE="Reid Goldsborough, post: 700, member: 34"]This is an inaccurate way to describe those whose collecting practices differ from you own. Some people like collecting replicas, other don't, but those who collect replicas aren't suckers. A replica can be an interesting adjunct to an authentic coin of the same type you already have -- a variation on a theme. Likewise, a medal based on the same coin design can be another variation on the same theme. Owning a replica can also be a way to appreciate a coin that would otherwise cost many thousands or even millions of dollars. The replicas of the 1933 Saint come to mind. There's actually a whole range of coin copies, not just replicas, than can be interesting to collect. Copies of ancient coins, to me, are particularly interesting, but copies of U.S. coins can have their appeal too. Here's a list I put together recently about ancient coin copies: Ancient Coins and Copies Here's one way to categorize the types of ancient coins and their copies available on the marketplace: * Original ancients -- authentic ancient coins with original designs struck in good metal by official mints in ancient times * Classical contemporary imitations -- authentic ancient coins of the Greek/Roman or Greek/Roman-influenced world whose style imitates a previous Greek/Roman issue and are often more artistic and compelling than their inspiration (Note: Included here are issues that borrow just one side from a previous issue) * Nonclassical contemporary imitations -- authentic ancient coins of good metal struck outside the classical world in ancient times but imitating the designs of Greek or Roman coins (often crudely or illiterately but sometimes with an abstract flair); often called barbarous copies * Ancient counterfeits -- plated coins (fourees) struck unofficially in ancient times as circulating currency and meant to deceive people into thinking the forgeries are of good metal; often called contemporary counterfeits, though "contemporaneous" is the more accurate word * Official fourees -- plated coins struck officially in ancient times as emergency circulating currency and usually not meant to deceive * Modern pedigreed counterfeits -- forgeries struck in good metal by well-known counterfeiters, such as Giovanni Cavino, Ferdinand de Saint-Urbain, Carl Wilheim Becker, Caprara, Luigi Cigoi, M. Sazonov, or Constantinos Christodoulou * Modern struck counterfeits -- forgeries struck in good metal in modern times as collectibles and meant to deceive collectors * Modern electrotype counterfeits -- forgeries electrotyped in good metal in modern times as collectibles and meant to deceive collectors * Modern tourist copies -- counterfeits typically cast and often made of a base metal (pewter, white metal, pot metal, bronze, etc.) and often sold in source countries to tourists by natives claiming to have just found them * Modern pedigreed replicas -- copies made by the Bulgarian Slavey Petrov or the Czech Pavel Neumann (Antiquanova) and usually struck or pressed using good metal as collectibles, sometimes marked with the word "COPY," "REPLICA," or other countermark, sometimes unmarked but without a flagrant intention to deceive * Modern museum replicas -- copies sold by museums such as the British Museum, the Smithsonian Institution, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the J. Paul Getty Museum, typically cast or electrotyped and made of a base metal, almost always marked with the word "COPY," "REPLICA," or other countermark (Note: Not included here are replicas made by commercial replica makers with the word "Museum" in their names, such as Gallery Mint Museum, Alva Museum Reproductions, and Museum Reproductions) * Modern cast replicas -- copies made by replica makers, usually cast and made of a base metal, usually marked with the word "COPY," "REPLICA," or other countermark * Modern jewelry replicas -- copies premade with a hole or clasp, typically cast, and made of either good or base metal * Modern fantasies -- pieces made with design elements or motifs from ancient coins but not intending to replicate the look of any specific ancient coin * Modern coin imitations -- circulating coins with a key design element that imitates that of an ancient coin * Modern medal imitations -- medals with a key design element that imitates that of an ancient coin[/QUOTE]

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