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 Replies: 12 / Views: 1,970 |
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Valued Member
United States
414 Posts |
Hi folks, I've been watching this auction for several days on ebay and it is approaching to a close. What's your take on this rouble? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Russia-Roub....m1438.l2649Weight is good but there are several things that worry me. The coin just doesn't smell right. |
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Moderator
 United States
34410 Posts |
Not my area of expertise, but that is a ton of money to spend on an unslabbed coin. I'd really want to feel pretty darn comfortable with the seller.
"If you climb a good tree, you get a push."
-----Ghanaian proverb
"The danger we all now face is distinguishing between what is authentic and what is performed."
-----King Adz
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Valued Member
 United States
414 Posts |
Not really; worse unslabbed coins sell well over 5,000EUR excluding premiums. If this coin is authentic and was to be slabbed, it would fly off for 12,000 - 15,000 USD without too much thought.
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Moderator
United States
34410 Posts |
Ok sure. How about: that is a ton of money *for me* to spend on an unslabbed coin.
Sorry that I can't provide any thoughts on real vs. fake.
"If you climb a good tree, you get a push."
-----Ghanaian proverb
"The danger we all now face is distinguishing between what is authentic and what is performed."
-----King Adz
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Pillar of the Community
Poland
3201 Posts |
I have never seen this coin in person but when compared to what NGC is showing, some differences can be noticed. Like the brooch: on the ebay specimen it's just dots - NGC shows dots in a concave oval shape. Then there is the collar (or whatever it's called - that long strip with 4 beads): the leftmost dot is in a different position, also on the ebay specimen the strip is uneven (as if dented) at the bottom. The frills of fabric right by the neck, they are a bit different. The fish-scale like things below the collar - notice how these scales, their bottom row in particular, seem to have more space between them. Also, on the other side, the crown on the left eagle's head (our left, not the eagle's left) has 5 horizontal dots while NGC specimen has 4 dots. NGC mentions there were restrikes made in the 1920s. But did they use the same dies? |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
5241 Posts |
This is a situation where you need a third party opinion on authenticity, unless you:
1. Know the seller
2. Know that you can return it.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1666 Posts |
I see a couple major red flags. One, "holes" where the low field is visible inside areas that would nromally be in shallow relief. Two, the shiny reflective edge that is in contrast to the patinated obv/rev. Leads me to believe a patina was applied rather than formed naturally. I would not risk even $100 on this coin.
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Valued Member
United States
414 Posts |
Numismat, I agree completely. I feel someone will be in for some serious pain. The bid is already almost 3k and will probably be much higher... clearly someone knows something I do not or has waaaaayyyyy too much money.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3343 Posts |
Strange patination.
"Two minutes ago I would have sold my chances for a tired dime." Fred Astaire
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
3831 Posts |
Back 10 years ago, I bought a pricey "copy". And guess what - the weight and edge was perfect. It was only the color that was off.  Let's be realistic - it's rare to hear fairy stories of buying an expensive coin for the fraction of what it should be worth especially when mintage figure is at around 30,000. |
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Valued Member
United States
414 Posts |
GX I agree with you in general. However, your copy is quite off looking. Without trying too hard one can easily see that this is a bad forgery. The face is completely off. With such a low quality forgery, it's hard for me to believe someone would go through any effort to make sure that lettering on the edge is perfect (let alone the weight). Do post a pic of the edge, I'd be curious to see it. Your copy looks like the forgery here: http://coinquest.com/cgi-bin/cq/coi...n_coin=13912Whoever purchased this coin either got a STEAL or will be limping from the pain for the next year, or two... Edited by cableguy815
10/01/2017 10:44 pm
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
3831 Posts |
cableguy85 - I don't have the coin on hand as I left it overseas. From memory I did compare it with a standard Nicholas II ruble coin and they did match. This should be alarming as the technology to replicate weight and edge was perfected more than 10 years ago. The biggest problem was that the color was blast white and not silvery grey. I have to send it for XRF test to find out what the alloy is.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5362 Posts |
If the coin referred to here had come to the attention of the former ebay watch committee when I was a member - this auction would never have happened. The coin is far to expensive to be sold raw. There was formerly a policy that required rarities of this type to be graded by an ebay approved grading service BEFORE it could be sold. The details are so mushy, I give it less than a 1 in a 1000 chance of being genuine. If the buyer comes forward - I would offer him $30 for this replica just to stamp COPY on it. |
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Replies: 12 / Views: 1,970 |
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Posted 09/30/2017 2:37 pm
