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 Replies: 10 / Views: 2,165 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
634 Posts |
In going through my world (including ancient & medieval) collection, looking up coins on the Zeno database for more complete attributions, I've found a few counterfeits.
I've marked "counterfeit" on the holders and put them in a special page marked "counterfeit," and now I'm wondering what to do with them.
Should I destroy them? Should I get a punch that says "copy" and punch each one? Do people collect counterfeits, and would it be safe to sell to such a collector, posing the risk that someday the coins may be presented by someone as genuine?
I'll appreciate any thoughts as to what to do with these.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10284 Posts |
I have a small collection of non punched counterfeits of US coins that are obviously rare dates and mint marks. Any collector with a fair amount of experience can tell they are not legitimate coins. I just put them in 2x2's and wrote FAKE on them and keep them together. Your destroying them is not going to reduce the amount of fakes that are out there. The coin police are not going to bust down your door for having them. There are some contemporary counterfeits that are legitimate collectibles, I think there are ancients that do have some valuable counterfeits which were made very long ago and perfectly good to have, and then there are the blatant Chinese counterfeits that are made to deceive collectors. If you are losing sleep, do what you must. You have already put them in a page and marked them. Add some instructions in one of the pockets in case you are gone from this world some day and they are found among your real coins. I don't think it's a good idea to sell them if they are are modern fakes. I wouldn't. But some of the ancient collectors do know what to do with those counterfeits of olden times. Edited by TNG
03/24/2018 9:35 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10284 Posts |
It wouldn't hurt to post pictures here now. CCF has a lot of identified images of counterfeits posted.
Maybe a COPY or REPLICA watermark would be a good idea.
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Rest in Peace
10197 Posts |
I do collect counterfeits, some, not a specialty, more as a novelty and learning experience. If you know the genuine, you can recognize the fakes easier, but for those of us on budgets, we may not be able to afford the genuine or have access to view these original coins, then a fake can help to recognize others.
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Valued Member
United States
330 Posts |
Keep them for educational purposes and post images if you've got a chance.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
As already said, destroying them does nothing. Regardless of what you do with them, there will always be more. May as well keep them and note they are fakes.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2815 Posts |
Quote:
As already said, destroying them does nothing. Regardless of what you do with them, there will always be more. May as well keep them and note they are fakes.  |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
634 Posts |
I appreciate everyone's thoughts. For now I'll keep them, clearly marked, and whenever I have time will plan to post them. Thanks!
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Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
Really depends on what ones they are. If they're really good or contemporary there is a collecting field of them, ICG will slab them as well if you were worried about selling them raw. If its the cheap ones there's really no value other than figuring out how you ended up buying them at the time and learning from it.
Edited by basebal21
03/25/2018 2:50 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
581 Posts |
Give them to your local coin store so they can reference them so as not to get ripped off and also to benefit their clientele. Or give them to a local coin club for similar purposes.
Food for thought.
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Valued Member
United States
128 Posts |
Unfortunately I have a collection of about 20 counterfeits, most from when just started collecting coins at flea markets, antique stores, etc, where you'll find quite a few if you're not careful.
I keep them all, from the laughably obvious to the dangerously realistic, in a little plastic bag marked "Fakes."
They're good for studying, for learning what to look for in a coin at a glance. Most of them have flaws like "Mushy" letters and raised lumps of metal, that have helped me from falling for more fakes.
They're also a good reminder that if it's too good to be true, it probably is.
So yeah, I definitely would not throw them away, I'd just make sure they can't escape back into the wild.
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Replies: 10 / Views: 2,165 |
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Posted 03/24/2018 9:06 pm
