How Do We Fight Conterfeit Coins When They Come Certified?

I know a fellow collector who ordered a few from this website simply to become more knowledgeable and to examine some in hand- The coins came to his door registered mail- no customs issues at all. However, in hand, these coins are CLEAR fakes, even if there are no markings on them. The weights aren't even close, the metals aren't correct, and in hand, these things aren't even close. That being said, I can certainly see these things causing a huge problem on ebay, especially with poor pictures.

Someone here who knows about metals could probably help me out on this:

several years ago, China started to produce fake gold bracelets with a metal very similiar to the quality of gold (likely not pyrite). I learned about this while watching news from Chinese Central Television, which also stated that the metal was so similiar to gold that it required a very expensive instrument to distiguish it from real gold (acid tests and such never worked).

This could have been a false memory (since I couldn't find sources related to this topic), but just for our knowledge, is there someone here that could relate to this metal?

Nice thread

Knowledge is key.. Counterfeit proper alloy coins need numismatic markers and experts.to sort

good weight, size , color are becoming the new normal.
Petersun's link
"Product Quality Act of the People's Republic of China". Link:(nice) As I read it, means no more sloppy products only the best copy's allowed!

Off metal counterfeits can be sorted through a plastic slab. Using TFDwall tm under $900.00 Made in USA.

And a couple of articles on counterfeit slabs

http://coins.about.com/od/coingradi...Diagnostics/

And one on a grading company pulling fake slabs - apparently 1,000's per year

http://www.coinnews.net/2012/07/08/...-collection/

It is nice to be able to get a copy of a rare coin to fill a hole in your collection, but they should have the word 'copy' stamped on it at least.

All I know is I won't bother buying any new silver coins from the RCM after seeing all of the counterfeits on that website....

With any luck something like this will be invented for coins.

(copied from Gizmag)

New technique identifies counterfeit collectible stamps

By Ben Coxworth

August 16, 2013


Here's good news for all you philatelists out there - " scientists have discovered an easier new way of detecting counterfeit rare stamps. Unlike some existing methods, it doesn't require the destruction of any part of the stamp, and can be done quickly by anyone who has access to the necessary equipment.

First of all, it's probably news to some people that there even are such thing as counterfeit stamps. Considering that some of the world's most valuable stamps are worth several million dollars, however, it becomes easy to see why some unscrupulous folks would look into cranking out their own convincing copies.

Traditionally, the authenticity of rare stamps has been verified by destructively analyzing individual components of them (such as a sample of the ink), or through inspections performed by highly sought-after experts.

A team from Italy's Università del Salento instead tried using a technique known as infrared spectroscopy. Putting it simply, IR spectroscopy involves subjecting a sample of material to a beam of infrared light, and studying how that material absorbs the light. Because known molecules absorb IR light at specific frequencies, the presence of those molecules can be inferred when light transmitted at that frequency is absorbed.
A rare 1961 Gronchi Rosa stamp, and a copy which was detected using the new technique

A rare 1961 Gronchi Rosa stamp, and a copy which was detected using the new technique

The researchers took a wide variety of Italian stamps (dating as far back as 1850) that were known to be authentic, and used the technique to produce a profile of each stamp's components - " these components included its paper fibers, fillers, inks, adhesives and coatings. Other stamps were then also analyzed, to see if they matched up with the profiles of the authentic stamps that they claimed to be. Out of 180 stamps tested, the IR spectroscopy technique detected two fakes.

According to the scientists, the process is simple, precise and immediate. A paper on their research was recently published in the journal Analytical Chemistry.

Source: American Chemical Society

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ac401067r

Better armor, then better bullets then