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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Paul M., post: 2106553, member: 73165&quot;]Good point, [USER=10328]@jello[/USER].&nbsp; Ebay is not the whole world. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>The first thing you can do to make sure what you&#039;re buying is real is buy it from a reliable dealer.&nbsp; For example, members of the Professional Numismatists Guild all follow the <a href="http://www.pngdealers.org/png-code-of-ethics" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.pngdealers.org/png-code-of-ethics" rel="nofollow">PNG Code of Ethics</a>.&nbsp; Point 7 says they will not knowingly deal in counterfeit or altered material without disclosing it as such, and point 10 requires them to arbitrate any disputes.</p><p><br /></p><p>In practice, what this means is that a PNG member dealer won&#039;t knowingly sell you a fake without telling you and will accept a return for a full refund if it&#039;s ever discovered to be a fake.&nbsp; Of course, any reputable dealer will do this, but the arbitration clause gives it teeth in the case of PNG members.&nbsp; (Oh, and a lot of ebay sellers are PNG members, too!&nbsp; I&#039;m starting to sound like a PNG commercial, lol.)&nbsp; I suppose if you bought a fake from a dealer who refuses to take it back, you could threaten to get the law involved, but that&#039;s a whole different can of worms.</p><p><br /></p><p>If you are purchasing a potentially valuable item (e.g. key date coins) raw, IMHO, beyond a certain level of value, it&#039;s always worthwhile to have it certified by PCGS, NGC, or ANACS.&nbsp; Even if you just crack it right out after it comes back and are confident in your ability to authenticate and grade it yourself, the $30 or so in fees is worth the peace of mind in buying a $1000+ coin, IMO.&nbsp; In fact, you should probably make an agreement with the dealer as part of the purchase that if you do this, and it comes back questionable authenticity, they&#039;ll buy it back for a full refund.&nbsp; Any reputable dealer will likely agree to this on such a valuable item, and, if not, it could be a good sign that they&#039;re not as reputable as they seem.&nbsp; A really great dealer will offer to submit it for you, if you pay the fees.</p><p><br /></p><p>I could talk about testing weight, diameter, magnetism, composition (you can do this non-destructively with specialized equipment), specific gravity, checking die markers, etc, but the&nbsp; most important thing you can do is look at a lot of authentic coins.&nbsp; That way, when a fake comes up, it will look <i><b>wrong</b></i>, and you can proceed to test the piece in detail.&nbsp; And, if you&#039;re following what I said in the previous paragraph,&nbsp; <i>you&#039;re having all your most valuable purchases professionally authenticated, anyway</i>.</p><p><br /></p><p>That&#039;s all I&#039;ve got for now.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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