Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 2605019, member: 19463&quot;]That is not going to happen.&nbsp; The worst thing about learning anything is that you are bound to discover just how much more you need to learn.&nbsp; On fakes, I have three levels:&nbsp; Coins I know are 100% fake, coins I know are most likely (99%) genuine and coins that I have an opinion on but realize that I could be wrong. I&#039;d say at my stage in the hobby this last group is about 1%.&nbsp; How many of my 2016 coins are mistakes?&nbsp; 1 or 2, I can survive.&nbsp; Dealers and &#039;graders&#039; need to be careful not to wrong a coin that is just &#039;probably&#039; OK.&nbsp; I can and do just walk away.&nbsp; In many cases, fakes are outed more by a bad feeling that come from something just not looking &#039;right&#039; but not something that can be explained in a way that would mean anything to others.&nbsp; I am now at the point that I get more enjoyment out of the hobby not worrying about the matter but just sticking to buying coins about which I have a good feeling. Unlike professionals, be they dealers or NGC &#039;graders&#039; (there has to be a better term), I do not have to &#039;rule&#039; on every coin.&nbsp; I can just buy coins I like and consider errors I make part of the cost of doing business.&nbsp; I suggest that you who are new to the hobby adopt a system of vetting coins for purchase proposed by Joe over on Forvm.&nbsp; &quot;Either know the coin or know the seller.&quot;&nbsp; I could lay down a dozen things to consider when trying to sniff out fakes but I believe that would cause more people who read it to make mistakes than it would help.&nbsp; If I say anything that makes you think you are safer, I am doing a disservice.&nbsp; I suggest looking at thousands of coins, handling as many as you can.&nbsp; Pay attention to photos of real and fake coins and learn what you can about how they were made and how they might have been affected by a couple thousand years of abuse.&nbsp; Look at them from arms length and up close. Don&#039;t just dwell on whether a coin might be fake but on what it is that makes that coin what it is (style, surfaces, fabric, feel, smell).&nbsp; The two coins that started this discussion fall into the category &quot;smell to high heaven&quot;.&nbsp; This is a combination of texture, detail and words I simply do not command.&nbsp; Lets say you are not comfortable spending money on beautiful and genuine coins.&nbsp; Hire someone to help or buy junk for study.&nbsp; That means buy from a trusted source and leave the bargains to those of us who realize we are going to make a mistake now and then.&nbsp; Don&#039;t expect to become a pro-level expert in everything overnight or in fifty years (I did not).&nbsp; Do the best you can, find people you trust and remember the rule about knowing the coin or the seller.&nbsp; Expect to pay both in cash or effort.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>See, I told you I couldn&#039;t do it.<img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie102" alt=":writer:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>Part of me would like someone to look at my collection and tell me which 1% they don&#039;t like.&nbsp; I wonder if they would be the same 1% I would flag.&nbsp;&nbsp; I wonder if I had 10 experts each flag 1% how much the lists would agree.[/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