RCNA Member Selling Counterfeit Canadian NCLT

My opinion, national numismatic organizations, similar to industry groups, have a far greater influence over how certain issues are perceived by the public and to what degree a crime is considered to be a crime. If it has no concern about the counterfeiting and sale of replicas and copies within it's in membership given it represents numismatics, why should RCM or the RCMP care?

I don't think anyone expects the RCMP to become overly obsessed with low volume counterfeiting while violent crime is on the upswing and already our courts and judicial system is bogged down. Try reporting someone for smoking pot in a public place, heck the police force gets ridiculed for wasting time and money even for conducting check stops or pot busts.

Likewise it's not feasible that RCM files a lawsuit over copyright infringement for every holder of a $50 or $75 Superman set that enters the country considering legal fees are typically at least $500/hr.

Education and why counterfeits harm the collector hobby has the greatest chance of success. Even Bobby and Nickelsguy have devoted huge time and effort to get fakes pulled off ebay to send the message, this is not okay. That the two of them, working silently, are active in preserving the health of numismatics, more so than a national numismatics organization, just an observation that seems quite unusual.

It was brought to my attention recently that there has been a posting to the Coin Community Forum regarding one of my KIJIJI ads. Some of the information and accusations being posted by members are not accurate since none of these people have all of the information about the set of coins in question. This set of coins was purchased in the summer of 2015 from an E-bay seller in Russia for someone who had seen this set advertised on another website. I was asked if I knew where I could get a set for him. I explained that if I purchased the set to sell to him, that I would have each of the coins stamped with the word COPY. He agreed with this and I purchased the set. When I contacted him that I had the set, he asked that it not be stamped. I refused this request and did not sell it to him. I had the set stamped copy and placed it in my safe. Since I am getting ready to move, I decided to place this set on KIJIJI and list it as a replica set.

I will probably regret that I did not state in the ad that the set was stamped COPY. As a long time coin buyer/seller, I have never purchased any of these replica coins previous or since this set because I have always respected the work of those who are opposed to these being purchased. In 2009 I met Mike Marshall and attended the RCMP seminar at the Edmonton RCNA convention to learn more about this problem and educate myself so that I would not get burned by these coins showing up in collections. I have also read most if not all of the information posted by Mike on the internet. I know that this has only become a concern with collectors since the mint began releasing a great number of NCLT coins. There have been counterfeit coins issued in Canada for a long time and I am a collector of the contemporary ( time period) counterfeits from all over the world right back to Roman Empire times. Some of the counterfeit coins and bills are even in the catalogues, such as the Province of Nova Scotia 1/2 penny token NS3A2 and the Bank of Commerce 1917 $100 note.

The Royal Canadian Mint also uses the word REPLICA to describe some of its 2014 issues where it lists BULLION REPLICAS, https://www.mint.ca/store/dyn/PDFs/...able_4_E.pdf. Also the website The Black Cabinet also says that it is legal in Canada to own counterfeit coins http://www.theblackcabinet.org/faq/ It is I believe that because of all of these things that there is so much confusion over this issue. I believe that along with fighting these coins coming into the country, we also need to push for a Hobby Protection Act similar to that in the USA. I have never tried to defraud anyone with these coins though this ad on KIJIJI. As someone who has a Chinese wife and have seen the counterfeit problem first hand in China, I would have ample opportunity to buy large numbers of these NCLT coins, if that were my intention, but I respect the hobby too much to do that. This set has been put back in my safe and will never be offered to anyone.

With regard to those who say that they have dealt with me in the past about coin appraisals.I have been in the coin business for 45 years and get many referrals to make offers on collections from antique dealers, stamp dealers, lawyers and other satisfied customers. There are always those people who believe that the coins that they have are worth far more since they are not familiar with the market and may have seen coins listed on other websites such as E-bay at very high asking prices. My response to them is that only actual sales should be looked at to get market values. Included with this post is a scan of the obverse of this set showing the word COPY on each coin which cost me almost $50 to have done.

With all due respect to the black cabinet, the redirect to laws .ca basically having a copy is illegal and going the US version of the Hobby's act is the absolute wrong direction, it just creates more confusion to the hobby as it will allow container loads of copies to enter legally, just my opinion though

I have always told people that contact me about coins that I can not give a true value of a coin from a picture and so the prices that I offer to buy them at is the minimum, but could be higher once I have seen the coins. I get upwards of 10 requests a day to make offers on coins and will always handle them the same way. Since some people take my offer as lowballing, it is only because a picture is difficult to evaluate. My buy rate on coins that I actually handle is about 95%. I would not have been around for 45 years and get so many referrals if my offers were not fair. That being said, I understand that there will always be those who have a different opinion. That is part of doing business.

What confusion? Other than yourself, I hadn't noticed one other person here indicate that buying or selling Chinese knockoffs - counterfeits, copies, replicas or whatever the label - is legal under Canadian Law. Have you read this thread, read the Criminal Code or contacted your local police department? It's not a matter of opinion.

With all due respect, you should not have been selling these "replicas" or "copies" in the first place... Far too many times do I see people getting scammed by purchasing fake Superman coins (especially the 2013 gold) which appear to be real for ridiculous prices, in the range of $850 to even over $1000. Replicas and copies have no place in modern numismatics as far as I am concerned, nor should they be sold for "profit".

What surprises me is It cost almost 50$ to get "copy" stamped on the coins? That's an expensive jeweler .

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