Should I Sell A Cast Copy Of A Coin With Full Disclosure?

Hmm... it's very likely that the coin will be used for nefarious purposes. However, to be honest, If I was offered $100 for a modern fake that I bought for a lot less, I'd take it. My logic is, there are so many circulating already and most of which are pretty convincing Chinese counterfeits, the fact that you're selling a fake with full disclosure is OK. I myself, have only one fake, which I bought knowingly. An 1806 Draped bust half that's pretty much un-identifiable to anybody but a seasoned collector, I bought it for melt value at a coin show, it's th right composition, doesn't stick to a magnet, has edge lettering and everything; my point is, better replica's always exist, now they even put great fakes, into great fake PCGS slabs with great fake PCGS cert's, you can buy them on Alibaba.

Someone I know had a camera that was a stolen one. He purchased it at a flea market not knowing it was stolen. At a camera show he sold it. The buyer found out it was stolen, turned over the name of the person that sold it to him to the police. He was arrested and had a heck of a time trying to prove where he got it.
The moral of my story is you are selling something that is illigal. Although the person buying it knows, the person they sell it to may not. Eventually they may find out and have it traced back to you as the seller of fake coins.
Not a good situation to get involved in for that amount of moeny.

Yeah, I figured I'd take a bit of a beating over this one. What another person does with a coin, or stated fake coin, or anything for that matter, is none of my business. In the past year I had to return (out shipping costs) several expensive coins that were obviously misrepresented. Also returned a counterfeit coin. Never received another coin I was supposed to receive, and the seller was going to try and scam me. I felt this was a unique case, and I originally had the coin listed in an auction, and removed it because I became convinced it was fake. The buyer contacted me, and we had several conversations and I told him everything about the coin. They promised it was for a filler. Will they ever sell it...maybe. I sold something with full disclosure, and what the buyer does with it eventually is his business not mine. There are a million things sold in the world safely and over the counter that can be used for nefarious purposes, but that is not the retailers responsibility, it's each individuals. Like I stated in my original post, I tossed one away already....and I chose to sell this one. I also mentioned that I wasn't 100% comfortable with the sale. 80% comfortable was good enough. Frankly I'm not a coin purest, and I can understand how my actions would be rebuked by many. I do collect some things, but my main purpose is investing. FWIW I also HATE counterfeit coins being sold on ebay as genuine, and I average one report every few days to ebay to try and have them taken down. I also message sellers when they have mis-listed or misrepresented a coin. IMO I do my share to fight the proliferation of fakes on ebay. Let's be careful how many stones we cast. Every time you see a fake coin for sale on ebay and don't report it.....

glad your investment worked out & thank you for doing your part in helping to ruin other's

Isn't it legal to sell a replica coin as long as you don't sell it as genuine?

Westcoin, thanks for linking the law. Apparently I did break the law by selling it. I have no excuse, but I am willing to pay the price for my actions. I probably already have because haven't stopped thinking about it since I did it. But if there is any additional price to pay I'll pay that too.

The HPA is administered by the FTC. The FTC generally controls commercial trade, not private sales. Any regulation of private sales come at a state level generally. Private sales are covered under " Private Enforcement" section of the HPA. which allows for civil, not criminal action. And it only allows for relief not punitive penalties




Basically, the way I read it, if you defraud someone by selling them a replica coin, they can start a civil action to get their money back. If they were fully aware that the coin was a copy, I don't read the above as it being a civil infraction and most certainly not a criminal infraction.

While I don't condone fraud or counterfeiting Ed, I most certainly would not be losing any sleep. You did everything right. Being in the construction business for years, I have sold many many trucks and heavy equipment. Some of it was in full working order and some of it was sold with fully disclosed mechanical problems.

I never once lost any sleep over whether the people I sold the tens of thousands of dollars worth of equipment to, were turning around and reselling it to others as problem free. And I most certainly was not about to junk a $10,000 front end loader that needed an engine overhaul, just because I was afraid the person was going to sell it to someone else as "nice tractor with strong running diesel"

While I would not have knowingly sold the coin to a known dealer of fakes and counterfeits, I would not be losing sleep over it, YOU didn't defraud anyone.