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Archraz
Pillar Of The Community
USA
1565 Posts |
 Posted 09/30/2009 12:18 am
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I have noticed that there are many bulk lots of cash coins on ebay, many of which are from China. Of course one would expect that there are quite a few common cash coins over there, but since China is also the epicenter of the majority of counterfeiting rings should I always be skeptical? For instance have a look at this auction:
http://cgi.ebay.com/10-pieces-chine...p3286.c0.m14
Many of the coins pictured look rather real, but they may not be the actual coins sent to the buyer. Also, counterfeiters can easily cast and corrode their own counterfeit cash coins. So should I just avoid all auctions like this?
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echizento
Pillar Of The Community
USA
3278 Posts |
Posted 09/30/2009 04:22 am
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From what I can see they all appear to be genuine to me. These coins were made in such large numbers that there are still many that have survived. They usually don't have much value so it's probably not cost effective to counterfeit them.
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Sap
Moderator
Australia
4491 Posts |
Posted 09/30/2009 05:51 am
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The thing is, "counterfeit" cash coins are made for all sorts of reasons; the cheap, shoddy, obvious-at-first-glance machine struck types are sold to tourists. Others are made in the traditional way for use in traditional rituals such as funeral ceremonies, as lucky charms, and for other purposes.
In my limited experience, the "style" of some of the coins in this particular lot looks a little suspect, and then there's the "bait-and-switch" tactic you mentioned earlier. But what seems to often occur with these bulk lots, especially if the seller has multiple sources, is you find a mixture of fakes and real coins since, as echizento pointed out, it's just as easy to buy a bunch of genuine coins than it is to make a bunch of fakes.
Personally, I prefer to let the dealers do the bulk buying, then rummage through the resulting "Cash coins $2 each" scratchtray (and most of the dealers around here have one of those), looking for odd mints or scarcer reigns and leaving behind anything I think looks dubious. Or, even better, let the cash coins expert in my coin club do the rummaging for me. He's been collecting them for decades and his eye for spotting fakes rarely lets him down.
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Archraz
Pillar Of The Community
USA
1565 Posts |
Posted 09/30/2009 5:54 pm
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echizento- Thanks for the input! Yeah, you would think that since they had such huge mintages that they would certainly not be in short supply over there.
Sap- Thanks! I totally agree that that a lot of these lots are suspect and probably will contain at least a few fakes. The problem is that over here in the States cash coins are just so hard to find, and when dealers do see them, they often are struck fakes that were sold in shops in malls that specialize in traditional Asian-themed kitsch and other supposedly "exotic" decorative items.
What is really bothers me with regard to Asian coins in the US is that most dealers really do not want to sell them due to not being able to read and identify them. I often find great deals on Asian silver coins in bullion trays because if the dealer can't read it then it is considered junk silver. To top it all off, my dealer has told me that a lot of other coin vendors just throw out cash coins when they get them in bulk lots since they don't want to take the time and effort to identify them and determine if they are genuine.
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Archraz
Pillar Of The Community
USA
1565 Posts |
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echizento
Pillar Of The Community
USA
3278 Posts |
Posted 11/07/2009 6:31 pm
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Everyday the Chinese forgers get better and better so without the coins in hand I can't really say if they are real or not. With that in mind I would not bid on any coins coming out of China.
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Archraz
Pillar Of The Community
USA
1565 Posts |
Posted 11/08/2009 4:06 pm
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echizento- yeah, that is pretty much what I figured. Thanks for the advice!
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