Replica Coins

It is a personal call. Some people use them to fill holes in their collection until they can afford the real thing, others have them as curiosities. I have never bought one, nor do I think I ever will unless it is for the latter reason.

I own a copy of the 1860 $20 gold piece Lt. George Dixon carryed aboard the H.L. Hunley when it became the first submarine to sink a surface ship in Charleston Harbor. The original was recovered in 2002 and is priceless. The copy $10.

I've always wondered about the replicas people advertise. Are they anywhere close to the orignals? For those of us on the low end of the food chain it would be the closest we could get to owning some high dollar coins and I've thought it would be kinda fun to have around, kinda like a curiosity I guess.

Any coments on the quality?

There are many reasons that replicas are made. If it is a rare coin, it could have been an attempt to make a usable counterfeit to sell. Many such coins are the 16D Merc and the 09S VDB cent. Then too many people just want a copy of something they've heard is much sought after. Kind of fun showing such a coin at work or school. As noted some are used to fill a hole in an album. Great example of that is the Liberty Head Nickel Album of mine with a slot for the 1913. I keep looking in my change for one but no luck so far. Similar with the 1894S Liberty Head Dime. Can't find one of those even at coin shows. Many such duplicates are made so well they sell for quite a lot of money.

For me, I would rather spend money on a genuine coin in any condition than on a pristine fake coin.

Thanks for the Link biggfredd. I'm thinking about ordering one of thoes. For $17.95 compared to a real one for a million and a half, I'll go for the $17.95 version. Regardless of how much money I could afford, I don't think I'd ever go spend over a million for one coin.

Your not the only one. At coin shows many are being sold and everyone well knows they are fakes. They are being sold as fakes, counterfeits, etc. and if made well are bringing a lot of money.
Since this hobby of coin collecting has increased so much in the last few years, there has been an massive increase in the similar types of objects related to coins also increasing. For example a flood of books on coins has been appearing. Numerous web sites and forums on coins are poping up constantly. I heard somewhere, think it was on the PCGS web site, that there is about 107 grading services now. New ones almost every week it appears. Since so many related coin subjects is constantly appearing, such addional hobbies such as collecting counterfeits, fakes, duplicates, errors and many other types of coinage is steadily growing.
As biggfredd pointed out that web site that has numerous such replicas, I'm sure there are others. And as I said at coin shows these are becoming common.