Have any of you seen the latest Coinage mag ? They have a very interesting artical on E-bay and of all the fake coins selling there. It's completly amazing how E-bay is letting this go on and just how good the fakes are. Not just the coins either, also the PCGS, NGC, ANACS ect. holders are as well. They go on to say that almost 60% of sales of coins are fakes and to buy raw coins is really risky. Looks like I'll stick with Heritage or Teletrade or just my local coin dealer. What do you think?
Is this the same article that Vess1 posted the other day over at this thread? http://www.cointalk.com/forum/t58914/
Ive never gotten a fake coin, but then I don't buy key dates or high value coins. No one is going to waste their time faking a $10 common date coin. As for certified coins, stick to PCGS, NGC, ANACS and avoid the 3rd tier grading services. Buy from reputable sellers that have made many transactions and have high feedback. Use common sense.
I have to agree, I buy common date Lincolns that are graded and NEVER EVER pay more than 10% over the RedBook. To buy a MS key date on eBay regardless of whether it's graded is a dangerous prospect in my opinion.
I have never purchased a single coin, or paper currency through EBAY. But in whatever venue you utilize for purchases, the old adage still holds true...Let the Buyer beware! I prefer to purchase from those I consider honest and reputable as in Heritage Galleries whom I have been doing business with Mr. Halperin since before moses started carrying a staff it seems. I'm very please that the article finally was published.
so my question is... If I bought 4 Morgans, PCGS and NGC slabbed recently all MS66 and in the $400-600 range and upon receiving these coins was more than satisfied that they appear genuine (thank god)... The cert#'s match exactly when I add them to my NGC Set registry and pull up the correct info from their database.. Should I be worried ? How good are these counterfits? Can these idiots perfectly reproduce a slab, tag and hologram when matched with my known genuine slabs (raw coins I have submitted directly) ?? I seriously doubt that 40-50 % of Ebays coins are counterfit. Perhaps taking into consideration the tons of correctly labled "copy" coins, but I don't believe 40-50% of the listed as genuine auctions. Maybe I am naieve...
On a relative basis, it could also be dangerous to base your buy prices on "Redbook" values. Such prices might be inaccurate at the very time they are provided to the publisher. But if not, they often are by the time the book is actually published and/or consulted, several months after the prices were provided.
If you know what to look for in terms of genuine coins and genuine holders/labels/bar codes, you will hopefully be OK. However, because coins, holders AND grading labels (including valid ID numbers) are being counterfeited, it is no longer sufficient to merely verify whether the ID number is valid or not. Many of the counterfeits I have seen offered have been Bust, Seated and Trade Dollars, as well as better date Morgans. That is by no means, even close to an exhaustive list, however.
Thanks Mark, I am pretty sure they are genuine. At the very least the cert#'s are verified and nobody else is has registered it. The ebay sellers I bought them from are all US based and have near to or perfect feedback.
Where do they get the number almost 60% of coins sold on e-bay are fake? I would venture to guess it is much less than 5%. Unless you count the ones that actually say copy on them.
Maybe that number was in reference to sellers from China or perhaps it was just horribly exaggerated in order to make a point.
Whether or not those ID numbers have been registered doesn't mean anything, but sight-unseen, my guess is that you're safe. Feel frere to post or send me images to view.
Is this a high value key? This is what's getting sent over here with no copy or replica stamps on them. I doubt anybody here would spot this as a counterfeit without a stamp on it. http://cgi.ebay.com/Replica-1903-O-...66:2|39:1|72:1205|240:1318|301:1|293:2|294:50 Just about every coin you can think of is counterfeited in China these days. It does not have to be a high dollar or key date. Especially Morgans. They make them all. Probably because people assume they wouldn't bother trying to make common ones. But they do.
The more recently slabbed NGC coins from last year on are all being photographed and are getting entered into their online database from what I understand. I've used it. You can go to NGC's site and look up a serial number off any slab and it should tell you what the coin is supposed to be at least. If it was done recently, it should have a front and back pic you can blow up and inspect. Usually there's some unique characteristic somewhere on the coin that you can compare to NGC's pictures to verify that it is the coin they took a photo of while it was in their possession. Be it a bagmark, scuff, scratch, stain, or what have you. If somebody counterfeited a slab or cracked a slab and replaced with a different coin, obviously it will not match the pics NGC has on file.
