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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;RedTiger, post: 904767, member: 19098&quot;]Counterfeits are a growing concern. There have been reports of low cost coins such as Ike&#039;s, and foreign minors being counterfeited. There have been reports of fakes of just about every 19th century type coin, though there are more reports about fake dollars (Bust, Seated, Trade, Morgan, Peace) than anything else. </p><p><br /></p><p>The fakes have been reported in many channels--not just Ebay. If the local club guys aren&#039;t experts, they might be buying them and passing them without knowing. </p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;d guess that less than 20% of collectors are qualified to authenticate coins against medium quality fakes. Less than 0.5% against high quality fakes. Yes, there are crudely made &quot;tourist shop&quot; fakes that wouldn&#039;t fool any collector that is paying attention. However, especially for expensive coins, there are also some high quality fakes that would fool a lot of people. There are also a growing number of fake slabs, sometimes with a fake coin, sometimes with a real coin in at a higher grade, or even sliced up halves of real coins put into fake or glued together slabs.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>About two years ago, a major coin magazine walked some of the better fakes around at a big show. Over half the dealers the coins were offered to, were willing to buy the fakes. That kind of story is very scary to me, because these fakes fooled a bunch of full time dealers. That story was about two years ago. The current level of fakes is likely even better.</p><p><br /></p><p>So be careful, be mindful. For the expensive coins I would still favor slabbed from a reputable dealer. I wouldn&#039;t buy the expensive coins from unknown parties even if certified, because fake slabs are becoming more and more common.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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