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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Vess1, post: 700159, member: 13650&quot;]Have you guys ever wondered what the replicas you see for sale on ebay are like?&nbsp; I always have.&nbsp; And although I never wanted to contribute a dime to them, my curiosity got the best of me so I did an experament.&nbsp; &nbsp; This was my plan and my experience so far....</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; To buy one example from one seller tells me nothing.&nbsp; Could get a bad one.&nbsp; Could get a good one.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;So I decided to purchase several of the same type, from three separate, prominent sellers from China that surely everyone has run across at least once.&nbsp;&nbsp; This way I can look for a pattern and compare quality.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; I chose to purchase 1914-D buffalo nickels.&nbsp; A semi-key date although they do produce examples of common ones also.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; I submitted best offers to all of them and was accepted.&nbsp;&nbsp; I had no communication with the sellers.&nbsp;&nbsp; They advertise these replicas as having a stamp on them.&nbsp; So, I decided to play dumb and just assume that is how they would come since that is how they are advertised.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; 15 days later, 2 of the 3 packages arrive from Hong Kong.&nbsp; (Still waiting for the third package to arrive.)</p><p>&nbsp; These 2 arrived on the same day.&nbsp; The packages are the same with the same labels.&nbsp; But were from two different sellers.&nbsp;&nbsp; I opened them both up.&nbsp;&nbsp; <b>None of them had a replica stamp so the rumor is true.&nbsp; I did not ask them to leave it off.</b></p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; At first glance, I was very impressed with them.&nbsp; I thought they were excellent.&nbsp; The apparent &#039;luster&#039; seems VERY realistic and would fool most who are not familiar with the series.&nbsp; With a brief inspection, I suspect many dealers and most novice collectors would not suspect anything out of the ordinary.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; After studying them longer and after closer inspection, I found no less than ten discrepancies with them.&nbsp; &nbsp; </p><p>&nbsp; </p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp; Their weights was not one of them!&nbsp;&nbsp; The worst one was 0.1 grams underweight.&nbsp; With the rest being 0.05 g underweight to dead on.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; These particular ones had an approx. 1/2 mm x 2 mm raised piece of metal on the cheek.&nbsp; They all had it.&nbsp; So it is obvious both sellers got them from the same source.&nbsp;&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; All were too big in diameter.&nbsp; Nothing you would be able to spot with the naked eye unless you had one side by side with them. Then you may or may not notice it.&nbsp; &nbsp; I measured them all with a digital caliper and they were consistantly too big.&nbsp; But less than 0.2 mm.&nbsp;&nbsp; They will fit in a nickel tube but will not fit in a Whitman album.&nbsp; &nbsp; All the real buffalos I tested were surprisingly within 0.01 mm of their spec.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; Next is the color.&nbsp; I don&#039;t know what they&#039;re made of.&nbsp; I would have thought they would have melted worn out common, real ones down to make their fakes, but who knows.&nbsp;&nbsp; Most, but not all of them had an unnatural golden hue that didn&#039;t look right.&nbsp;&nbsp; They are unnaturally glossy.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;The strike on the lettering of Liberty is pretty weak.&nbsp; The surface is universally grainy under a 10x loupe, but absolutely unnoticeable to the naked eye.&nbsp;&nbsp; Some other features did not turn out right and should have shown up well for the &#039;supposed&#039; quality of the coin.&nbsp; &nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; I will post an update when the third package arrives.</p><p><br /></p><p>Fake:</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;<img src="http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f203/vessxpress1/Coin%20Album1/IMG_0694.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>Real:</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;<img src="http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f203/vessxpress1/Coin%20Album1/IMG_0688.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; A lot of this stuff may seem obvious now.&nbsp; But if it was in a 2x2 like this test thread I just ran:</p><p><a href="http://www.cointalk.com/t71818/" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.cointalk.com/t71818/">http://www.cointalk.com/t71818/</a></p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; and you are unsuspecting, it would be possible to buy one of these and never notice without close investigation.&nbsp; &nbsp; The most obvious factor with these was the off color (which some were better than others) and the lump of metal on the cheek.&nbsp; Which the next date may not have had.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;Someone by PM asked me if the edges looked worked on.&nbsp; Under a 10x loupe, (I have 20/20 vision) I could barely see fine scratches on some of the edges.&nbsp; &nbsp; </p><p>&nbsp;I suspect if these were worn and a little more beat up, they would blend in much better and be that more unnoticeable.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; These cost less than $20.&nbsp; If these were real in this condition, this batch would sell for around $3,200 or more.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f203/vessxpress1/Coin%20Album1/IMG_0695.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f203/vessxpress1/Coin%20Album1/IMG_0696.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f203/vessxpress1/Coin%20Album1/IMG_0693.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; Moral of the story, never let your guard down and inspect the loose coins you buy very closely.&nbsp;&nbsp; These were far from perfect and should be spotted by most.&nbsp; But if you&#039;re not paying attention, many people would not spot them.&nbsp; </p><p>&nbsp; Luckily, there&#039;s no way these would pass at NGC or PCGS.&nbsp;&nbsp; But this is just a single example.&nbsp;&nbsp; It&#039;s likely that others out there are producing better ones.&nbsp; </p><p>&nbsp; I was somewhat relieved that&nbsp; these had as many problems as they did.&nbsp; More than I expected in the end.&nbsp;&nbsp; They must feel that the quality is close enough to fool most.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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