Several recent bad slabbed foreign gold including 1 bad "PCGS" in the current bad holder and 2 NGC's: Same bad holder as we have seen over and over again and no image on the PCGS on-line cert: NGC handles their reported bad differently: And back to the PCGS, thier auction records on the cert show this one was sold 3 times previously...
I had not seen the "possible counterfeit holder" before, previously I recall it was "contact customer service" or something like that. I'm thinking about how bad this is for the duped buyers. You can't accurately weigh or measure the coin in the holder (thickness anyway). And who looks up a cert months or years after they've bought it? Unless they crack it out or try to sell it, they're never going to know.
So the coins are good, particularly on the NGC one...but the slabs are fake and NGC says that while the coin is good there could be a "good" slab and fake slab attached ?
The coins I posted here are all bad; NGC acknowledges on the genuine on-line cert there are counterfeits with that cert number out there.
Yeah, what it means is pretty clear to me. Wake me up when somebody starts putting real coins into fake slabs.
I have several; the other side of the Dark Side, undergraded genuine coins in higher graded fake slabs...
Wow, I hadn't thought about that potential vector for evil. But I guess with often thousands of dollars hinging upon even infinitesimal grade point differences, I suppose it makes economic sense, if you're a criminal. Take a real coin, entomb it in a fake slab declaring it to be even just one or two grade points higher, and you've got a subtle scam that many folks won't notice. Of course if you're stupid and greedy, you'll try putting a VF20 coin into an "MS64" holder.
I did find in my archives an NGC version of the bad 2000 Dragon: Genuine example on the right; also an updated cert:
I saw an auction last year with several fake slabs and coins like the examples above, both PCGS and NGC. Similar to these, they were pretty obvious. Oh, and the fact that some of the coins in the lot had the same cert number. I contacted both PCGS and NGC and the auction house literally months before the auction was going to happen. Guess what? Nothing happened. The lot went off for maybe $7,000 if I remember correctly. That buyer has no recourse. The terms are as is and bidders are responsible for inspecting the lots. The whole situation is repulsive. edited to add - The buyer also bears responsibility as well.
I guess I thought it was possible someone would "upgrade" their coin but it didn't seem worth the effort (find one in the grade you want, without images, custom make the label, etc). I suppose things like an added mint mark would pass more easily in a fake slab too.
Why do just copper and silver, go for the gold! Very corrupt situation that just seems to get worse every year. Great information thanks you all.
I use a whites 6000DI metal detector as one of my tests on gold. It has an analog meter that helps tell if it's real gold. Helps to have a real gold one as reference.
Interesting idea. Seeing that old Whites ID meter brings back memories. Say, speaking of testing gold, what's going on in your avatar picture?
Years ago, someone started a thread here on CT where they were suspicious of a modern gold bullion coin, and broke it in half. It was genuine, IIRC.
There have been those bars with tungsten inside, though. Dunno if there have been any gold-plated tungsten coins found.
There have. I've seen photos of those here, too. I also think someone posted either a screenshot of or a link to an Alibaba page selling then. AGEs, I believe.
I dug out a few slabs looking for something to show a friend. Some of these are lower tier or basement slabers. NCA NGA MS66, Hmmm.