Collecting Counterfeit Canadian Coins For "Educational" Purposes

Thanks for posting that link I would have probably missed it as I seldom read that sub forum.
Some people have a lot of nerve,anyone remember this,have a look at this link where a guy thinks he can print money right in front of transit police.
http://globalnews.ca/news/1542441/m...al-bus-loop/

nclt

Alexer and Libertand : thanks for sharing the links... Unbelievable what some are willing to do to make a fast buck.

In the early '80 many people were caught for making/redeeming false Subway restaurant stamps. At the time, a full card of stamps could be redeemed for a free sandwich.

2005: ''Fraud stamps out Subway sandwich promo'' :
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/8075754/n....Vy1g3quDClI

What makes this so troublesome is that more often than not, this is in grey territory (as opposed to black and white)...

In the case of acquiring counterfeit coins from a legitimate transaction, and later realizing it was fake - This should not put the person holding the coin in the wrong;

But there are those here who say that this is NOT ok, and that it is illegal to own one of these toonies from the moment you ID one...

Technically it was illegal for the retailer to have passed it off (if not for their ignorance).

Along those lines, it is my opinion that holding onto said counterfeit coins should not be anything criminal, you are actually removing the coin from circulation.

I agree anyone who is intentionally purchasing counterfeit material which can be passed off as legitimate, is edging out of the grey into the black...

If someone is purchasing counterfeit coins which have been clearly marked as fake, then it should be ok...

But why would you even want to buy one(?);
A local collector was showing his five cent type collection, one of which was an imitation error wartime issue - I could see it wasn't legit, even thought I didn't know that this error type (or a reproduction of it) existed... but I can be assured that he paid well over face value for it, so odds are that he is not going to try to spend it.

...

Lets say you are collecting toonies;
You want to have a complete set, and want to include a counterfeit toonie in your set;
You know of a local collector who found one of those Quebec fakes and pulled it out of circulation, and is willing to part with it;
In the case of that collector selling it to another collector for a collection should in essence make it ok.

But again, there are those here who say that this is NOT ok, and that it is illegal to own one of these toonies from the moment you ID one...

...

Now let's back up the boat for a moment;

We have pre-confederation coinage;
And there are many "imitation" coins which are collected;
They are categorized and accepted as fodder for collectors to buy and sell - but they are by definition counterfeit coins.

As I see it, the only difference is that the antique coins cannot by any stretch of the imagination be passed off as currency in today's marketplace.

Then again, how many people are going to try to pass off a fake 1948 voyageur dollar for $1?

...

That's about all I can put into words right now.

:)

Time to stretch your imagination a little bit more than you presently are..

High quality fakes are out there also..and they can be scary good,..even to the seasoned collector..

..and no one tries to pass the fake 48's off for a buck..

They come to the internet far too often..and the asking is just good enough to catch some collectors trying to catch a great deal..

It's illegal and damages the hobby and has been well explained over and over here by Mike and others.

If it continues,..it will cripple our hobby..

I can understand someone wanting 'hands on experience' when it comes to identifying fakes, in fact I can only envy the educational experience Mike M. has had being able to have many fakes in hand. His ability to recognize a fake is superior to most due to this fact. But other than that I agree "why bother and for what"?

take a minute to try to figure out how many fake Morgan dollars are in peoples collections. as fast as Bobby gets them pulled there is always handfulls that are sold before it happens.

And for people like Mike, who educate and forewarn others to be aware of fakes to prevent them from getting ripped off, it must be absolutely infuriating if instead it increases interest, almost as if to some known fakes are some kind of rarity or variety with a rightful place alongside the real thing.

As okiecoiner mentions, it's those who see nothing wrong with owning counterfeits that help to create a market, which in turn leads to the unsuspecting getting bilked because it also lures the unscrupulous looking to make a quick buck. That also results in unlimited increased mintage, the fakes are added to the supply -- harming both the value and demand of the original. A vicious circle that eventually has the potential to deter newer collectors from buying on the secondary market, which in turn destroys the hobby because existing collections become worthless due to lack of buyers.