I want some empathy into how collectors’ attitude towards counterfeiting is, and as well do I have some questions regarding this. I want to ask those who have been collectors for many years. It rankles a little bit in my mind if people about 50 years would be capable of making counterfeit so perfect that it would kill the numismatic hobby. I want to ask: 1)Do you think that internet has a positive, negative or none effect on counterfeiting? – In forvm or forgerynetwork there is a database on fake coins, and as well can a debate forum help one if he has a suspicious that his coin is fake. But on the other side one who might intend to make counterfeit can gain valuable information as well with internet. – How has internet affect numismatic hobby in term of counterfeiting? Would numismatic hobby have been better without internet? 2)Are people who make counterfeits better skilled today than for 10, 20 or 30 years ago? With eventual newer tools or equipments and with access to internet, have anyone of you noted whether these people have improved their skills? 3)Do you think that people in the future, about 50 years, would ever be capable of making counterfeits so perfect 100% that it would kill numismatic hobby? I mean the technology improves whole time: Deaf babies today with Cochlear Implant can manage to hear and talk. Television was fat once, today we can see football matches on Smartphone. Apparently there is no limit. - Do you think that people in the future would be capable of making perfect counterfeits in such a way that it would be impossible to detect counterfeits from genuine?
One has to ask the question, if a counterfeit is so perfect it cannot be detected does it matter? The reason I do not worry is I buy coins for my pleasure and knowledge. If you buy for that, counterfeits are not a big deal. One thing I would say, is that counterfeits will be a bigger problem for modern collectors than ancient ones. Ancients were hand made with diagnosed dies. That is harder to counterfeit in my view than something made with a machine. Machine made is simply copying the hub of a legitimate example and using similar machine settings. For ancient coins, style is a huge factor, and something we pay attention to. Maybe in the future it will be a concern, but in 50 years I will be gone anyway.
Well, if the technology to counterfeit is improving, let's hope that the technology to detect counterfeits is improving more.
Yes, if a fake is so perfectly faked, then nobody will know, will they? This is simply one of the realities of our hobby. The famous art forger, Elmyr de Hory, was so good at faking Matisses, Modiglianis, and Renoirs that many of his pieces probably STILL hang in major art galleries around the world. So what is the real masterpiece? The original, or the fake?
Answers: 1. Negative, see Alibaba for further info 2. Better skilled, of course 3. No, it won't kill the hobby, but it may kill coin values
1. Neutral. It extends the reach for counterfeiters to dispense their goods (negative), and provides easy access to tons of useful information on identifying and avoiding them (positive). 2. No. It's not a matter of skill, they just have better technology. Skill is making a convincing fake without technology that does all the work for you. 3. They already make fakes now that fool even experts and TPGs.
You so simply nailed it, in my opinion. This will be a major result, but not the end result. Considering that, currently, many collectors are in this hobby for the "value" aspect of coins, ever-present counterfeits may also have the effect of making many of us leave the hobby/business if the counterfeiting really starts to turn many of us off. How it would turn out, nobody really knows. However, I would think that this is a very likely result.
You're asking a lot of questions, even within your numbered questions there are several different questions. 1 - The internet has had both a positive and a negative effect. It helps collectors learn how to identify fakes, and it helps counterfeiters learn how to correct their mistakes. While you can look at pictures of a coin on the internet and discuss if it is genuine or not, about the only time you can confirm that a coin is a fake is when it is poorly made or it has known diagnostics. But with well made fakes, you cannot prove it is genuine or counterfeit simply by looking at pictures. And in hand examination made by someone qualified to do it is required. As I said, the internet has affected the hobby in both positive and negative ways in regard to counterfeiting. But there is no way to say it is more of one than the other. And no, the hobby would not have been better off without the internet. In that regard the advantages far outweigh any disadvantages. 2 - Are counterfeiters today better skilled than in the days of old ? Absolutely not. There are counterfeits that were made in the 1700's and 1800's that still fool the TPGs on a regular basis. But there are very few that were made in recent years that fool them. Have the skills of any of the modern counterfeiters improved ? Without question, yes. But that is only when you consider what their skills were when they started as compared to now. 3 - You're asking if technology will allow counterfeiters to make fakes good enough to fool everyone. Well as I said, even 250 years ago technology was good enough to allow them to fool almost everybody, even those considered to be experts today. So that's kind of a rhetorical question isn't it ? You see, it's not a question of technology, it's a question of skill and desire. The technology to make perfect counterfeits has existed for centuries, the counterfeiters don't need new technology to do that. Could new technology make it easier for them ? Yes, of course, but so what ? If there is new technology that makes it easier to make the fakes, then it is also logical that there will be new technology to help identify them. So will counterfeits eventually destroy the hobby ? Not a chance. Counterfeits have existed as long as coins have existed, so has the hobby. And we are still here
