Zombie Coins Stalk Collectors Thanks! (That was from 1999. Gail dropped the Krajlevic from her name after her divorce and Ute is now the Director of the ANS, I think.) This is exactly why I am opposed to the collecting of counterfeits and fakes. (Barbarous Radiiates, Celtics, Bungtowns and Conders are among the exceptions. Those are true numismatic items because they really were money in their time.) I have seen this at coin shows. A "rich" guy (engineer or lawyer, say) who is a collector of American goes on vacation to Europe and comes home with a fake coin. Maybe he got it in Israel or Turkey or Italy. ("My cousin knows a place where you can dig. Meet us after dark." Of course the site is salted with fakes he can "find.") So he comes home with his fake and takes it to a dealer for an appraisal of his "bargain" and gets the bad news. He tosses it in his junk box. When his estate dumps his collection, the next dealer may or may not spot the fake. It goes into the display case: Smyrna. Greek Imperial. Commodus 192 AD.$200. And the fake takes on a life of its own. It becomes a Zombie Coin.
