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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dcarr, post: 1301006, member: 4781&quot;]As the subject of this thread, perhaps I should weigh in here with some comments.</p><p><br /></p><p>There are two types of counterfeits:</p><p><br /></p><p>1)</p><p>The traditional definition of &quot;counterfeit&quot;, in a currency sense, is an item that is manufactured to appear to be legal tender, and is passed as such.&nbsp;&nbsp; The counterfeiter makes a profit on the difference between the production cost and the face value.</p><p><br /></p><p>2)</p><p>An altered or doctored coin, if manipulated to look like a more-valuable item, is sometimes referred to as a &quot;counterfeit&quot;.&nbsp;&nbsp; For example, somebody cuts away part of the &quot;4&quot; on a 1944-D Lincoln cent, and then attempts to sell it as a rare &quot;1914-D&quot; Lincoln cent.&nbsp;&nbsp; Although some people might call this bogus &quot;1914-D&quot; Lincoln cent a &quot;counterfeit&quot;, it is in reality an &quot;altered&quot; coin, not a counterfeit.</p><p><br /></p><p>What I have been doing is not counterfeiting and it doesn&#039;t fit either definition above.</p><p><br /></p><p>If I take a legal-tender dollar coin, change some aspect of the design (without adding or removing any metal), and the result still looks like a dollar coin, this is not counterfeiting because there has been no change in the apparent face value.&nbsp;&nbsp; Note that I do not recommend anyone attempt to use any of my over-struck coins as legal tender (and why would they if the things cost more than the apparent face value to start with).</p><p><br /></p><p>I am not altering coins to resemble any item that actually exists.&nbsp;&nbsp; Like it or not, it is LEGAL to deface money.&nbsp;&nbsp; It is, in fact, legal to take a 1944-D cent, push some metal around on it, and turn it into what looks like a &quot;1914-D&quot; cent.&nbsp;&nbsp; But if you then tried to pass it off as a genuine 1914-D cent, while knowing that it wasn&#039;t, then that would be a crime (a crime of fraud, but not counterfeiting).&nbsp;&nbsp; My over-struck coins are genuine altered coins, with dates that do not exist.&nbsp;&nbsp; And, of course, I offer these items with full disclosure making it perfectly clear that they are modern over-strikes.</p><p><br /></p><p>So anyone making the public claim that I am &quot;counterfeiting&quot; should first consider the legal ramifications of making such charges against an individual or company.</p><p><br /></p><p>Another aspect of this is to consider who, if anyone, is harmed by this activity.</p><p>The US government is not harmed.&nbsp;&nbsp; When counterfeit money is introduced into circulation, the net effect is a dilution of the value of all existing currency.&nbsp;&nbsp; This harms the government, as well as everyone else.&nbsp;&nbsp; But what I do does not dilute the value of currency because for every dollar coin I alter, a legal-tender dollar coin is &quot;consumed&quot; in the process.&nbsp;&nbsp; But what about someone years from now paying a high price for one of these over-struck coins ?&nbsp;&nbsp; I don&#039;t think this hypothetical scenario will ever play out.&nbsp;&nbsp; Who is going to pay a high price for a coin that has a date that is known to be not a US Mint ptoduct ?&nbsp;&nbsp; Only a knowledgeable collector would, and they would know what they are getting.&nbsp;&nbsp; A novice is not going to pay a high premium for something they know nothing about.&nbsp;&nbsp; Anyone knowingly attempting fraud with one of these over-struck coins is the one and only person that would ultimately be at fault.&nbsp;&nbsp; And who is to say that these over-struck coins couldn&#039;t have a high value in the free market in the future ?&nbsp;&nbsp; (I make no such claims, however).</p><p><br /></p><p>And lastly, some here have lamented that original Morgan silver dollars are lost in the process.&nbsp;&nbsp; While this is basically true, the coins I use are common, of little collector interest, and are usually impaired in some way.&nbsp;&nbsp; I like to use cleaned, polished, worn, and/or damaged coins.&nbsp;&nbsp; Since I am knowledgeable about VAMS, I examine all coins before using them, and any scarcer dates, better VAMS, and/or higher-grade coins are saved.&nbsp;&nbsp; Recently, I was given the opportunity to look through about 1,000 silver dollars to pick out coins to use for over-striking, as well as any coins I&#039;d like to save.&nbsp;&nbsp; Here is a thread at VAMworld where I show the better VAMS that I bought and saved from that lot of 1,000 coins:&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://www.vamworld.com/message/view/home/44846918" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.vamworld.com/message/view/home/44846918" rel="nofollow">http://www.vamworld.com/message/view/home/44846918</a>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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