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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;taxisteve929, post: 1300392, member: 34222&quot;]Hello, I&#039;m new here and this group of posts caught my eye. Since I collect only counterfeits, I felt I could participate and explain my reason for collecting them. First, I collect what is now commonly referred to as &quot;Contemporary Counterfeits&quot;, meaning they were made at the time of circulation to be spent at what ever the value of the coin was to purchase goods. I do not collect modern fakes, but we as collectors should understand the collector mentality since we&#039;ve all probably experienced the puzzled looks of those who don&#039;t collect. I prefer to collect coins that were used in colonial and pre-federal America, but will collect any counterfeit if the price is reasonable, to me. The &quot;Redbook&quot; lists several counterfeits, and some costs thousands of dollars....as a matter of fact, countefiet British halfpence and counterfeit Spanish 2 reales can sell for quite a bit more than their genuine counterparts. All Machin&#039;s Mills coins are simply counterfeit British halfpence that were made on American soil, which is the reason they usually garner more interest than their British made counterfeit cousins. I&#039;ve also owned several counterfeit Spanish gold pieces, in various metals. For instance, at one time, platinum was a fairly inexpensive by product of mining, and counterfieters recognized that this heavy cheap metal would be ideal for counterfeiting gold pieces, with just a light gold plate or wash, they would be nearly impossible to distinguish from genuine pieces. Even some of the highly collectable pre-federal state coinages are counterfits. The &quot;Camel Head&quot; variety of New Jersey Copper is an example of a &quot;Contemporary Counterfeit&quot;. These were not made to fool collectors, but were made, as I stated earlier, to be spent. While some counterfeiters were simply mom and pop operation or single individuals, there were some sophisticated counterfeiting operations in existance, and although the study most often hits a dead end when trying to find out who made these, (counterfeiters didn&#039;t sign their work since the penalty was often death), we can sometimes, by noting design style similarities, and actual die sharing, connect the mystery counterfeiters to several varieties of counterfeits. There is plenty written on counterfeit Bust halves, 2 reales, and even some things written on 8 reales, Spanish gold and British and Irish halfpence, most common under George III, but still fairly common under George II and earlier. Like most things, it can be fairly inexpensive in common lower grades, or extremely expensive, with a few counterfeit halfpence selling for $10-15,000 in recent years. It&#039;s a fun and educational hobby, and we all collect for several reasons, and I hope I helped shed some light on why some of us do prefer counterfeits. Steve[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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