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 Replies: 15 / Views: 1,978 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3207 Posts |
I was surprised to see that counterfeit 1931-S LWC recently posted. Is that where the counterfeiters are going these days, to the semi-keys? Certainly that's less profitable than faking a 09-S VDB, but OTOH with the key dates I suppose more people know what to look for as real. And what about condition? Why not fake a higher grade 1931-S and get more return? Is hiding the fakery tougher on an MS coin? |
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Moderator
 Australia
16805 Posts |
A shorter list would be "What coins the counterfeiters are not faking?". Because the answer is "Not many". If there's profit potentially to be made, then it's a potential target.
"The counterfeiters" are a broad, fuzzily defined group. Some are content to merely make fake high-value circulating coins (like the British £1 and £2, the European 1 and 2 euro or the Canadian and Australian $2 coins). Others are making "tourist fakes" that would fool a tourist or newbie collector, but not a specialist. Yet others are targeting high-end fakes.
As for worn versus MS, it is a long tradition for fake-makers to induce artificial wear on their coins, to both hide the telltale flaws of fakery and to make people less suspicious. Carl Becker, the 19th century fake-maker of ancient coins, would put his freshly-minted fakes in a box on the back of his horse-and-cart and leave them there to jingle and jostle together for several weeks as he rode around town, to make them all banged up.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Moderator
United States
34393 Posts |
I agree with @sap. My answer to your question was "everything". As long as people are buying them, there are enough places to sell them.  "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
 United States
3207 Posts |
OK, I hadn't checked prices in years. Before ebay I paid $35 for my 31-S XF, now I see they go for more these days which helps explain why someone would fake those. Makes me wonder if any of my other LWCs are fakes though I suspect pre-ebay the fakes were fewer. |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
3733 Posts |
probably more fakes, then any one would want to know.. and they are also in slabs as well.
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Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
Quote:
Why not fake a higher grade 1931-S and get more return? The actual producers for the most part sell them all cheap. It's the middle men that try and take advantage of different dates for the markups |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
The Chinese counterfeiters even fake common late 1950's wheat cents.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4233 Posts |
Maybe the end result is a more educated consumer, but probably wishful thinking. I just picked the cheapest, most readily available Barber dime and went shopping. Yup, there they are. With both the wrong reverse _and_ the wrong obverse. Now I need to go shower off the stench. |
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Moderator
United States
54280 Posts |
I think that particular 1931-S was an altered coin, not a mass produced Chinese fake. Most of the 1931-S fakes I have in my image archives are altered coins rather than minted counterfeits.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
And why not all coins? They even fake stuff like batteries, cloths, old furniture, cars and almost anything someone will buy. Coins are just ripe lately for this fakery.
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Moderator
United States
187446 Posts |
Quote:
The Chinese counterfeiters even fake common late 1950's wheat cents. The margin on these must be quite thin. I suppose if they sold them in bulk...  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
832 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1613 Posts |
Bullion. Specifically modern gold and the Silver Eagles. Both of which have had a drastic increase within the past few years. Enough that the Treasury Department is finally beginning to take notice and looking for ways to combat this sudden "boom". And the sad reality? It is NOT with the collector in mind. China has long been a world leader in the high quality reproductions of coinage, employing the same equipment and techniques as those they copy. Right down to the master dies. All with the approval and backing of the Chinese government. With this in mind, there has been a shift in recent years from rare collectible coinage to bullion due largely to the economic turmoil within the country. Which goes back before the current administration. However, with the most recent taxation policies we will only see an increase. What this translates to is how China is retaliating by flooding the market with counterfeit bullion to weaken the value of the United States reserves and thereby the dollar.  ANA member - PAN Member - BCCS Member There are no problems only solutions - the late, great John Lennon
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
How does flooding the US with counterfeit bullion weaken the value of the US reserves? And what reserves would those be? The US has no silver reserves. We have gold reserves but how would counterfeit bullion weaken its value? (And the gold reserves have no effect on the value of the dollar since the dollar has no gold backing.)
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1005 Posts |
If the market for AGEs is flooded with convincing fakes, consumer confidence in the coin would be depressed, weakening the value of the coin. Same deal with counterfeit currency, etc.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
But that doesn't affect the reserves or weaken the value of the dollar.
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Replies: 15 / Views: 1,978 |
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Posted 01/28/2019 6:22 pm
