You have to understand the companies making repro's of tokens, coins and medals will make anything they think will sell. There might be 100 different the companies over the years that have made copies of that coin. Most companies mark their repo's in some way. And some countries have laws about marking current and recent coinage.
There is a large segment of the coin and token hobby on the auction sites and
ebay that pass off the fakes as real, hoping to hook uninformed new collectors into paying more than they are worth.
Like with certain tokens for the coke marquee and the old west brothel tokens which are all fantasy tokens. As other than a few saloon tokens for change for drinks. They didn't have tokens for other services.
Then you have the reissues of older tokens because somebody has found or purchased the dies. legitimate companies alter the die so they are seen as repro's
Also a number of Chinese companies are known for faking everything from gold bars and coinage new and old. A lot of members on this forum have posted about fakes and Repro's on this forum.
Years ago when I was set up at a flea market selling jewelry and parts. There was a dealer selling some coins, tokens and other collectables. He had a box with assorted foreign coins, tokens etc. he would put the repro's of the bawdy house tokens in the box, and sell them for way more than they were worth. But to somebody that only new that those tokens should be worth more than the price on the box. He would buy them from the maker, and then artificially age them, just enough to knock the new off. And make sure he always had just enough in the box to be a steady seller.
Now people buy them and thing they made a great find. They talk up their find to family, it becomes family lore. When they pass their people rush to cash in and put them on
ebay as "REAL". Well you get the idea.
Posted 09/19/2014 07:30 am
