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 Replies: 11 / Views: 2,304 |
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Valued Member
United States
200 Posts |
I recently bought 3 Krugerrand 1 oz coins from ebay. Now when I look around on ebay, I see a lot of Krugerrands selling for like 10 dollars (obviously replicas or clad). But when I see those replica coins, I do not see any marking saying they are replicas. Can you please look at my purchase and see if you feel anything missing. Edited by lincsus
02/15/2013 12:47 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3453 Posts |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10982 Posts |
They look fine to me. The only thing that would give me pause is the price being under melt value. When eBay/PayPal fees are factored in, the seller netted far under melt value. I don't buy Krugs but am surprised a seller would let them go that cheap.
Still, I see no reason to worry unless the coins you receive are different than those pictured. If you used PayPal, no worries for you.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1796 Posts |
Aye, always be careful. The further below fair market value something goes for, the more suspicious the offer should be. There are a lot of sellers who sell fake bullion coins all over places like ebay, iOffer, and Craigslist. Although I have seen a large number of fake slabs (and have a few in my own collection) I have yet to come across a counterfeit ANACS holder. Counterfeiters seem most content right now with faking PCGS plastic with the occasional NGC. You might be in luck. :-) (Or the seller might be contacting you shortly to cancel the sale.) In any case, be sure to fully examine them when they arrive. Feel free to post further pictures here, too. In the end, if there's anything fishy, contact the seller immediately. Edited by SteveCaruso
02/15/2013 12:47 am
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Valued Member
 United States
200 Posts |
Thank you for your advice. Helps me relax. But how do you spot a fake if the clad and replicas have no different markings?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1796 Posts |
Counterfeits (and I say as someone who *collects* counterfeits :-) ) always tend to have different features you can tell them apart by as very, very few currently on the market are "good" counterfeits.
The easiest way is to examine new coins side-by side with coins you know are genuine and in most cases it's very quickly obvious. Check how the dates are formed, check the weight, check the ring, check the thickness of the coins, and if the reeding matches, etc. etc.
With online listings it can sometimes be tricky as you don't have things "in hand," but with practice you get a hang of it after a while.
Sadly, my experience is primarily with American counterfeits otherwise I'd be able to help you out more on this specific listing. I'm not very familiar with the Krugerrand series.
Edited by SteveCaruso
02/15/2013 01:00 am
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10982 Posts |
Quote:
...how do you spot a fake if the clad and replicas have no different markings? Buying certified is a start. Your cert numbers check out.  Experience handling genuine slabs and coins goes a long ways too. Honestly the chances of getting a fake coin in a fake slab is very low. It does happen but very, very rarely. I have weighed slabs before. Knowing what the slab weighs empty and subtracting that from the total weight gives you the coin weight but we're getting in too deep here. If the seller delivers what was pictured, you'll be fine. |
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Valued Member
United Kingdom
195 Posts |
Find a good jewellery or someone who scraps, refines or post processes precious metals and see if they have a XRF scanner with which you can get it checked out, I think that is the only way to be sure with precious metals.
Or you can buy a handheld XRF scanner, though at the moment you will have to dish out 10+ Krugerrands to get one.
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
It IS possible to fake ANY gold coin with the correct weight and density, by substituting a tungsten core. Most of us here in the CCF already know that extremely high quality fakes of silver coins have attempted to be sold, and sometimes the buyer forever never finds out.
I have never heard of a fake GOLD coin being produced in this way, but I would think it would be a certainty sometime soon, or perhaps has already been done, but not reported yet.
Such a coin would be die struck, perhaps by laser optic profiling of an original, then erosion spark cutting of a die from the digitally produced model held in memory.
Such a die needs to be re worked, to sharpen up the detail.
Proofs dies can also be made by acid etching to produce to cameo effect and 100,000 diamond dust to mirror polish the fields. I use 100,000 diamond dust for final polishing a sapphire faceting in gem cutting
Fakes HAVE already been made with gold bars, and a $400 million fraud was discovered.
In this, case the tungsten core had a thick covering of pure gold.
I guess that the fakes were discovered with ultrasonic testing or similar.
Which brings me to thinking:
How does a buyer detect a fake gold coin, with a tungsten core and a thick pure gold covering?
It seems that the simplest and easiest way of doing so, would be with sound.
Comparison ring tone testing against a genuine known coin would be the answer.
You would need the coin 'in hand' to do that.
Edited by sel_69l
02/15/2013 06:13 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3453 Posts |
sel_691, I think you just reconfirmed my believe that hubby and I need to stick to slabbed gold when we purchase it! Good info on the process, thanks for posting that.  (Hubby and I are collectors and do not buy bullion) |
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Valued Member
United States
200 Posts |
Well, so much for my fear of it being a fake. Got a message from ebay saying that the seller account had been hacked and my transaction has been cancelled. Will still have to dance around for getting my money back though. Whether the account was hacked or the seller thought the price was low is another story. Anyways, thank you all for your helpful posts. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1796 Posts |
When ebay does that, it usually means that the item in question never existed in the first place. It was just a pretty picture in the end. |
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Replies: 11 / Views: 2,304 |
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Posted 02/15/2013 12:02 am
