Thousands And Thousands Of Counterfeits Produced Each Month.

I worry about this all the time. If this counterfeiting continues, no one will know what is real and what isn't in the future. As 3D printers grow in abilities, they too soon will be making coins of all kinds. Then with the correct metals, no one will ever know for sure what is real and what isn't. Even now I suspect many collectors and dealers have fakes and don't know it. Sorry to say but this may eventually end this hobby.

By the very nature of how they operate, a 3D printer will not be able to match the density of a struck coin.

The Numismatic News article is from 2011, but the Big Tree Coin Factory has been in operation since at least 2006. In case anyone hasn't seen it, this was the article that was run on About.com back then. (this has been posted several times, it has had some slight updating sice then)
http://coins.about.com/od/worldcoin....htm#showall
If you look at the pictures of the dies you will see some dies for non-US coins in there as well,

Even the US government has gotten stung by the Counterfeiters. They produced millions and millions of half dollars (at a cost of a few cents apiece), mutilated them and then got the US Government to redeem them at 50 cents apiece through the Mutilated Coin Redemption program. By some accounts, which were probably exaggerated, they actually redeemed more half dollars than the US mint has made. (The redeemers claim the coins were found in cars being recycled. To reach the amounts being redeemed there would have to have been several hundred dollars worth of halves in every car.) Since discovering the fraud the redemption program has been "temporarily" shut down.

So if the Mutilated Coin Redemption program has been shut down and the factories are still running making the fakes. Where are all those fakes currently being produced going?
Wouldn't direct from the Mint products, TPGs, and perhaps bullion where the metallic content can be confirmed be a safer buy now?
How about proof coins, is it harder to fake a proof?

In one of the display cases at the local antique mall there used to be a set of dies for a 1922 Peace dollar. I started a thread about it back in 2015 but was so busy at the time I didn't get pictures. It was still there last time I stopped by a few months ago. I'll try to get pictures if it's still there.

Oh, how I wish there was someone we could contact about this issue that affects
our hobby and our pocketbooks?
If there was just some I don't know "Representative" that we could perhaps call or
write a letter to who's job it is to listen to our concerns and effect change
(or enforce existing laws...)
Perhaps in a land far, far away...

Stopped by the antique mall yesterday afternoon. The 1922 Peace $ dies were still there. It was almost closing time & I was in a hurry so I wasn't able to have them open the display case. Here's a really bad picture of the dies through the glass.

Those don't appear to be US Mint dies.



The problem is how do you do it? A single container ship may have from 200 to 400 of those containers on it. Each one would have to be brought to the dock, unloaded, inspected,and reloaded. And there are dozens if not hundreds of those ships coming in every day. Then there is what gets trucked in, and what gets flown in and then packages in the mail. And think about the delays to the shipping! It's Feb 2, got a package coming in from overseas? You'll see it in December. And your going to have to add several hundred thousand if not millions of inspectors. Yes I suppose it could be done, but it would be a nightmare.