Danger Of Counterfeits From Kijiji - Nobody Wins Here

Please remember that the laws are very different in the USA than in Canada. Mr. Cutler I am thrilled that you have "learned your lesson." As for the 25 cents that WERE available in Trenton. There were 4. Now there are none. I have the name of the original seller and am working to make his day unpleasant.
Here is the opening page of a power point presentation I gave at Coin Expo. Ring a BELL?



Counterfeit Coins

Each and everyone of us as numismatists is affected by the very presence of counterfeit material.

Directly: The loss of money when unknowingly purchasing counterfeit material. The embarrassment/anger at being duped by lack of knowledge and or an unscrupulous seller. The loss of confidence in the market place or ones own ability to recognize counterfeit material.

Indirectly: Having to pay higher prices for material as dealers recoup losses to counterfeits. Loss in value/sales due to people leaving the hobby due to fear of the counterfeits.

Please realize that any new collector duped by a counterfeit may just leave the hobby and this affects all of us in one way or another.

Education is the Key!
Be proactive when you see a counterfeit!

Thankyou Mike for confirming that the counterfeit quarters that this person had are off the market. I was concerned that he still had them based on an e-mail that he sent to me on Jan 16, 2017 where he said " By the way I am not fully convinced they are fake.  They were deamed fake by one man.  I will seek a second opinion. I am happy that he took my advice and sought your opinion because I was suspicious of them when I first saw the photos of them that he sent to me.

Thank you Kbbpll, the link did answer my question. In the "Notes" section under "Effective dates, it appears any item prior to Nov. 29, 1973 (enacted date of law) is "grandfathered"...not subjected to mandatory "COPY" markings. If enough research was done, I could probably find out who made these and when. Composition seems to be pewter from the drop test, so assume these are older than 1973. Although unnecessary, I will be heating up the Dremel & add to what ID info already written on mounting and listed in will. A little scratching won't affect the value of a fake coin, still worth nothing!



As for those coins made to fool...hopefully there's a new sheriff in town that will prosecute to the fullest extent of the law, both here and other nations as well!

I am just throwing this out here, as I completely get Mike's position on the detriment to the hobby with no speaking out. Trenton is a very small area, having lived there for several years I was hosed with counterfeits on seperate occasions by two different individuals. Upon doing my research, I later found out these two individuals know each other well. Further suspect is one of the counterfeit coins that is trying to be sold right now. Perhaps I can be of some assistance here. Feel free to contact me privately.

Thanks for being proactive Mike. As a note to others, posting of emails addresses are generally not allowed in our threads and posts - but I would argue that this one NEEDS to be here.

One half of the 1858 penny is on its way to Ottawa for testing.

I XRF tested this 1858 coin (half) that was sent to me. This would have been the rarest one of them all, had it been legit. Not only was it coinage axis, but it was also brass...

It was the exact same composition as the 1859 counterfeit brass coins from China, which is basically cartridge brass (more than 30% Zinc).

I also put this one under the microscope at work, to capture the texture of the surface. This would probably be a generation 1 cast production of the counterfeit dies.