These Counterfeiters Are Getting Good!

For a coin that is over 100 years old one has to assume that in the condition that its in it, someone probably preserved it in some way to make it look more appealing maybe it was dipped a couple of years ago or some other method was used...

I personally like to preserve my coins in a non damaging way, and many times I found that a lot of whear was hidden by dirt or tarnish, if you go ahead and preserve a coin with underlying damage, then those old "wounds" might appear rather fresh again...

I have handled fakes high end and not so good ones and I agree most of them have been rubbed to make their surface look more flawed but in those cases it was always a lot of damage...

one or 2 scratches here and there they can come from anything...

Ill have the swiss coin certified and let the pros take a look at it if its fake they would have to look at the method used to strike it and see if its contemporary to how those where struck during that time... That would be a more definite evidence to declare such a piece as fake...

I'm not seeing any problem with the coin on the left. Perhaps some of the details are not as high relief, but that in not unusual. That can simply be the difference between a coin struck from a fresh die and one that had seen some use and possibly been refurbished. Still much better looking that a transfer die.

It looks mostly good, but a little weird. I think it may kind of like the fake Chinese Panda coins that have been on the market for some time. The genuine examples of this coin don't usually have such deep mirror-like fields as this coin does.

If you mean TPGC graded, they have been fooled by such things. And of course, there are now fake slabs ..

.. all we can do I suspect is to educate ourselves. However that is no guaranteed protection. I feel fairly knowledgeable about the series I collect but I nearly bought a replica. The only thing that stopped me was I realised that my friend still had the self-same coin for sale on his website. Turns out he has the original from which the copies were made!

Of course fools in search of a bargain don't help. This week I have seen three modern copies for sale on ebay. All the sort of thing you can buy as souvenirs at museums or stately homes and marked as such by the manufacturers! I flagged them to ebay but .. nothing. In fact one sold for over £150. Most frustrating!

Thanks Numismat. I used the link, so we'll see what happens!

GEKO, the first 3 scudi, the one on the left, I can see problems with the hair and the way the flag attaches to the pole. But had you not pointed it out as fake, I would have missed the points. As to the third 3 scudi posted, I think it is genuine.

It's from the Order of Malta, not Malta. :U

I want to note that if you take a close look you will see that there is a big difference in how well the coin was struck and its not because of the contrast of the picture.

Concerning the 3rd scudi the details seem a bit better however in this case the cameo is.... well...