Fake 1948 Canada Silver Dollar From Ebay Seller Dam283

I think the coin was sold.
As well as about half a dozen other '48 dollars in the last six months from this seller.

ebay has to very , very seriously re-examine it's Coin Sellers policy.
Also the CBP and CBSA need to start clamping down on counterfeits.
They have the laws behind them , but never enforce them.

Every single one of the coins he has for sale is fake. Quite a wide variety of them.

That's interesting. In the USA it's illegal to posses any counterfeit coins.

The US Secret Service and I believe the FBI will get you if they find out.

But you are saying it's a violation of a copyright?

In Canada it is illegal to possess counterfeit coins.
It is never enforced though.
Many feel that ebay is complicit in this illegal activity, they delete the listings and not long after the same sellers are back at it again.
By now counterfeit '48 dollars far outnumber the 18,000 or so genuine examples.

I solved the problem I had with this . I simply stop buying on ebay.Got out of the rat race and I sleep good at night.

The apathy in the numismatic community in regards to counterfeits has plagued as well as angered me for MANY years from the very top ( RCNA) to the average collector. ebay has been very diligent in combating counterfeits with good policies and procedures where as the RCM and the RCNA have done absolutely nothing.
I will be on Pocket Change Radio once again on the 25 June. This thread will be discussed at length.
Here is an article I wrote years ago. Does it FIT? Mike Marshall


Counterfeits are here to stay! Are you part of the problem?

Counterfeit coins have been around as long as coins have. For a very long time I have attempted to thwart the efforts of those who attempt to profit from them. While some major victories have been won the proliferation of this bane to our hobby continue at an alarming rate. All we can do is educate ourselves as well as others and be constantly vigilante in our numismatic transactions. This is where we as numismatists have become our own worst enemy. The competition to acquire new material or snatch up a "real deal" or "cherry pick" an item from say for example Kijiji or ebay, caution and or common sense may not be used. The naive or inexperienced are most vulnerable at this time. That is not who I am aiming this instalment at. I hope that the inexperienced save this article and use the examples given and markers presented to assist them in identifying counterfeit coins coming from China. What I am really hoping is that the more experienced collectors and dealers realize that their reactions to counterfeit material may well harm the hobby as much as the fake coins themselves.
I will bet that every person reading this has told a friend of an amazing purchase or cherry pick or had a story of this told to them by a fellow collector. Now the real question! How many have told the story of being duped by a fake or have had that story told to them? I will bet that only the most intimate of friends share these stories or they are among the very few who like me believe that the sharing of scenarios gone bad educates all who are informed and may well prevent future crimes. Too many times I have had people tell me that "It is the price of doing business," or "I chalked it up to a learning experience." Almost every dealer/pawn shop owner I have ever spoken to have "education pieces" that they have been duped with. Again the two phrases above are used. But did the duped individuals notify the police? In some cases yes. It was nice to see the article in CCN about the fake bullion and the arrests made. This is the exception not the norm. The reasoning for not wanting to divulge the fact that they whether a dealer or collector have acquired counterfeit coins is complex. Lets look at the motives:
a) Embarrassment. Absorbing the loss seems more beneficial than the loss of face in other collector or dealers eyes.
b) Recompense. If I involve the police I will be unable to recoup my losses either from the seller or by flipping it claiming ignorance. (this one falls more on the opportunist and not dealer/collector base).
Ethics. This one I always shake my head at. "Well I only offered peanuts for a multiple thousand dollar coin if real." As if the circumstance that the coin was fake negates the fact that the buyer attempted to acquire a very valuable coin for a minuscule amount. I do not feel sorry for this individual as they are no better than the fraudster by attempting to take advantage of someone while they themselves were duped by greed.
Every one of these motives actually harm the hobby. The lack of dissemination of information whether locally via local clubs, the press and police or nationally on coin chat groups or again in the press (CCN) hurts each and every one of us. Education is paramount. You are doing no one any good by being silent. Another may get duped by the same seller or scenario. If a duped individual leaves the hobby we all suffer in the end. The only people benefiting from silence is the fraudsters. If a fraudster does it once. Shame on him. If he/she does it twice. It is our own fault so shame on us. Are you part of the problem?
Here is a scenario which transpired right here in Trenton (my home town) within the last two weeks. It involves every thing mentioned and will demonstrate that acceptance of fraud and silence only breeds more of the same.
I was contacted by an individual (the opportunist) to authenticate a few 25 cent coins. 1875H and 1889. From the images provided there was no doubt to me that they were made in China. I met the individual to inform them in person that they were indeed fake. It turns out there were two of each date. I was then asked to look at images of an 1858 large cent this individual purchased previously from the same original seller but had subsequently sold at a profit apparently some time in the past. It was counterfeit as well. The individual who purchased the now flipped counterfeit 1858 simply chalked the counterfeit up as a learning experience and the price of doing business. Sound familiar? If the secondary buyer of the 1858 had gone public would it have made a difference? I believe so. The opportunist would never have purchased the 25 cent coins after unknowingly buying a fake 1858. The original fraudster would not have continued selling fake coins which my investigation has learned includes 1948 dollars as well.
The scenario was allowed to play out for all the wrong reasons.
Are you part of the problem?

Undoubtedly but in the charge to address and resolve this issue, there is no drive from those who can actually have an impact. @john100 is right. The value to the Canadian government for a counterfeit 1948 dollar is $1... Just go try to cash one (a legit one) at a bank, a bullion dealer may give you $8-10 for the silver content. A collector will see values ranging to 5 digits depending on grade so the fraud is in the area between cash value, intrinsic value and perceived hobby value. Quite frankly the RCM/RCMP are not going to invest in addressing type of fraud. I haven't heard of many prosecutions on counterfeit currency in Canada. The RCM changed the dies for the $1 and $2 in 2012 for counterfeit prevention so they are aware of the problem but their focus appears to be prevention in current circulation, not the numismatic hobby.

I see (from my perch as a regular consumer reading news reports) more enforcement in capturing counterfeit high value fashion such as Louis Vuitton bags than numismatics. Even with that, I wonder if the hundreds of LV/Chanel/Gucci handbags, all valued at $1,500 and up, that I see on any given day walking through downtown at lunch are legit...

Counterfeiting is a problem that impacts all aspects of commerce. In some cases, the impact is hobbyists such as the current discussion. We are a collection of unconnected individuals with little or no lobby power... who is being hurt here... definitely not an entity with $millions to pressure a government. In other cases, the impact is to businesses... in this case, there is some support from government Louis Vuitton and Nike et al.. all lobby the government and there are seizures at the border for these items but I suspect that the capture rate is quite low.

The other aspect is identification. There is one contributor on this board who maintains a "black" collection to assist his identification of fakes... in a recent thread there were a number who jumped on him for this saying that there are plenty of other sources of confirmation that would not require a personal collection. I disagree and fully understand the need for a "black" collection. The best on-line resources I have seen are for the UK pound coin... a problem that grew to the point where the old coin was demonitized when a completely new coin was introduced but again, the change was driven by the government... there is little enforcement for the plethora of fake 50p Kew Gardens coins.

While I generally agree with @nickelsguy I challenge the comment


Policies mean nothing if not enforced. For the amount of money that ebay make on coin sales, they could easily invest in a few enforcement activities. i.e. a known counterfeit peddler should have future sales subject to verification... even if that means a higher sellers premium for that seller... Machine recognition of known fake dies can be applied to coins to route them to a secondary verification method where knowledgeable folks can validate their authenticity. Enforcement of the "Picture what is for sale" policy... too many ebay listings have a representative picture; this practice is actually against ebay policy but rarely policed and enforced. ebay is little more than an online flea market or car boot sale and I have left this community for that reason.