How Many People Are Concerned With Counterfeit Coins ?

Well, I don't know if this will be much use but here is an example of a common counterfeit £1 coin that I pulled from circulation.



Just in case there's anyone wanting to collect modern British currency there are millions of these in circulation. This is obviously one of the poorer copies.

I think they a lot more prevalent than people think (or talk about).

It is so easy to buy online now, and miss picking up on a fake that you might've once spotted in hand when visiting a dealers shop or coin show (like in the old days when that was the only option). It is also just as easy to buy (& reintroduce to the marketplace) anonymously online from offshore dealers who are willing to ship single coins direct from the factory.

Most scary I think is the quality of the fakes... laser engraved dies & high tech presses have some looking better than legit issues. TPG'ers are also no longer a safety net.

Legally there is little to no recourse (or interest) in dealing with foreign governments where a large percentage of these fakes come from, and even if someone gets caught on home soil it doesn't get treated in the same way as if someone was printing out $100 bills, when really there isn't much difference.

Mike Marshall has educated a lot of people and saved a lot of heartache, a few more like him sure would make a difference.

Theres certainly a negative aspect to that. At the same time though theres the counterbalance that theres no more free information available to collectors than ever before.

While counterfits have gotten so has the ability of individuals to get other opinions and do research to detect them.

For the sake of argument if the counterfeits do happen to get so good one day no one can tell they really become real until someone can figure it out. Thats kind of the sad conclusion that may happen at one point in time but in a lot of ways this reminds me of bullet proof armor and guns. The gun has to be invented before the armor can be made for it. In this case the counterfeit has to happen before we can learn to spot it. Its also going to be a back and forth battle.

Overall though I do think the internet has been a positive with the massive amounts of new information that may not have been previously available to people.

@ wade I'm wondering if you could post a link to the Toronto or Trenton interview Mike did in Nov for the coin expo. Also
If you could post a link to his auction, so others can see some of the images he has collected.

His story about his friend, who spent his savings on two rare coins that turned out to be counterfeit really touched me deeply. I would be in a real pickle, if the silver coins I bought could only be sold for melt, when some of them I paid $100 per Oz.

. I don't think what an impact these coins will have on the hobby, especially when people stop trusting online sources to buy from. As example say, a person had to suddenly disperse some coins to cover medical expenses. Who would buy these coins when they aren't certain they are real. The coin dealers could pay even lower prices, because there's little competition from private sellers. It's even scarier in my reading that certified coins in slabs have been faked.

I know it will never be completely stopped. Hey let's try to crimp their style. ebay doesn't allow the sale of copy/replica/ counterfeit coins. They will remove the auction if reported. CCF has a link for reporting under its Auctions Subheading, lets use it, it's supposed to work faster than the standard link for reporting on ebay. So here is one tool at everyone's disposal to use.

It's by sharing information and keeping an open mind, we all learn. I never knew of this issue until I stumbled across a couple of Mike's post. I was in blissful ignorance. Now I've awaken to the danger and it's becoming a passion to reduce the risks for all. Whenever I find it possible to do, I'm still a newbie, so my impact may be small, but still an impact if I can get some people educated to the issue.

Here's an article I just read, it deals with a US coin dealer helping to nab someone selling thousands of dollars of counterfeit coins. The pro thief had already sold to 2 area coin shops. The article also states the US is in the process of pass a bill to protect collectors coins. I say kudos to the states government, other governments need to be as proactive. You can find this article by googling Wake County: coin dealer flips the game on counterfeiter. There is also a link on 1st Canadian subforum topic auction for counterfeit canadian or something close to it, author of post is SSP Ottawa. Sorry I have a very short memory when it comes to long titles. I have to have another page open to copy from . It is a good read.