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Message:: [QUOTE="harrync, post: 2829937, member: 58588"]A few random thoughts on counterfeits and over-bullion premiums: Back in the late 1950's, when it became apparent that the US Treasury could not hold down the price of gold forever, I began buying $20 gold pieces at $38 each. [People would say "It's illegal to own gold"; I'd say, "Not if you are willing to pay a premium to get it in coin form."] To show how smart I was, I quit buying when they got to $70 each, because I was sure gold would never go over $100/oz. Thanks to my laziness and procrastination, I still had them when gold got over $600/oz in response to the Hunt brothers silver debacle in 1980. [So depending on the circumstances, it can make sense to pay even premium over 100%.] I was selling them about a half dozen at a time to a big Southfield, MI dealer. One day I went in and he said "You know, a couple of that last batch you sold me were counterfeit." I said "Gee, I didn't know; I'll take them back of course." He said "Too late, they already went to the smelter. They were Lebanese counterfeits; full weight and fineness, just fake." I guess if you were in Lebanon in the 1950's, and you already had the die cut, it made sense to take $35 of bullion and make it into a coin you could sell for $38.[/QUOTE]