Fake Coins/Slabs/Cert # The Birth Of A New Buisness Awaits

It is called education and experience.

I am currently working on a small presentation for my coin club to explain the diagnostics of a few counterfeits.

I write plastic formulas for a living.

I have a product that I want to flag chemically as mine that is not identifiable once I ship it.

I add a useless out of place chemical in the formula that I can pick up if a warranty issue were to come up (so many warranty claims for competitor's products anymore. . . ).

If I were PCGS, I would come up with a custom blend and then vary the blend annually. There isn't a plastic part though I can't replicate exactly with a big enough budget. So you vary the blend annually. Maybe even publish the cycle and sell a home tester.

Perhaps something that would only show up in UV light.

They make a pigment you can put in plastics that is invisible / clear and then becomes visible when hit with a certain laser frequency.

All kinds of ways to do this.

The only effective weapon against counterfeiting is education. No use attempting to stop it if people are willing to be taken; somebody will always be willing to fill the hole. Depending on a third party to guarantee the coin in your hand is genuine is not only a fool's mission but numismatically useless, leaving you no enjoyment save bragging rights.

TPG's are cool but you're supposed to not need them.

Thanks macdon!

As jerseyben and SsuperDdave said, education is always the true key. Certification has really become a "shortcut" crutch for that, as it were, trying to package the expertise of others in a manner that can be bought or sold sight unseen.

epikur - Over the next month or so, there should be some things like that up on the CCF Youtube channel (if all goes well).

BuckeyeCoinGuy - That's an interesting proposal, but I do see two problems: one that can be overcome, and one that cannot. The one that can is a matter of choosing an appropriate inert additive that can be tested for, as you don't want something in the plastic that will damage the coins. The one that cannot be overcome is merely the amount of time before the counterfeiters catch on and make plastic that tests properly. Any fix like this is a temporary fix.

As part of my own contribution to temporary fixes (albeit one that I hope has a bit more staying power) I'm presently cooking something up with The Black Cabinet that will significantly help slabbed coins that works with the Certification Shield system I've already put together. Once I get the patent process underway, I can talk more about it.

Ssuperdave said it right. Educate yourself. Buy numismatic books and read them, attend a numismatic seminar whenever you can, never be afraid to ask a silly question (there are none). Seek out a mentor or at least ask for second opinions if you are unsure of what you are doing. Numismatics can be rewarding but there is a price for the education. How expensive you want that education is up to you!
Remember when it comes to coins "Foolish collectors rush in where Numismatists fear to tread". If you want the hobby to be a lifetime of enjoyment, don't be a foolish collector , become a numismatist!

Aye it certainly would help. When I have time and can trace a coin's pedigree to, say, an auction where there are photos of the original coin, I try and post those pictures on its profile for comparison. With one of the last 1916-D Merc fakes I posted, the original is nicely toned with a CAC sticker, where the counterfeit is blast white with none.

I'm going to go out on a limb here. Educating yourself about coins is absolutely the best way to keep from getting burned. However, with the level of sophistication of some of today's counterfeits the level of education required is going beyond what the average hobbyist might be willing to learn. I'm not a coin master but I'm also a good ways away from being a novice. I don't mind admitting there are fakes out there that are good enough to fool me & I know I'm not alone. I've read numismatic articles over the last few years where high level fakes were taken around coin shows & shown to dealers who could not identify them as fakes.

I don't have any idea what a solution to this problem might be....or even if there is one. As an antique dealer I do know that the market for some things that were heavily faked has pretty much dried up. Hobbies are supposed to be fun & new collectors got turned off by the amount of eductaion required to protect themselves.