I bought this replica/copy of a Mormon $20 gold coin in 2007 on Ebay. It is not marked "COPY" anywhere. I looked on Google for "Hobby Protection Act Mormon Coin replica", and found some online stores selling replicas, including one similar to mine. One online store appeared to be connected to the Latter Day Saints (Mormon) church. Are these replicas exempt from the Hobby Protection Act for some reason?
Well, the HPA states "original numistmatic item", which they define as: ..anything which has been a part of a coinage or issue which has been used in exchange or has been used to commemorate a person or event. Such term includes coins, tokens, paper money, and commemorative medals. Whether or not your item fits this criteria would have to be determined by someone other than me.
IMO it looks to be a violation of the Hobby Protection Act. The coin depicted does not look like an original Mormon gold piece There is a fake Mormon gold coin depicted on the cover of the book Numismatic Forgery by Charles Larson. I believe it was at the ANA show in Pittsburgh where I saw that coin accidentally dropped & watched it bounce on the uncarpeted aisle floor. The man that dropped it said "it was only a fake". However, it was a professional fake that had made it to the cover of the forgery book.
That coin depicted on the cover is the piece that the guy accidentally dropped onto the hard floor. It was tough to watch it happen. I didn't inspect the coin after the accident.
True but I don't think this one was. And yes the HPA does cover these. Of course there are is a LOT of stuff on ebay that is in violation of the HPA. Unfortunately the HPA like a lot of other laws is either not enforced or even unenforceable. How do you prove when an unmarked copy was made? If you can't then they can claim it was before 1973 and therefor legal. Short of catching them in the act of making them here in the US their hands are tied.
