Are These Ebay Coins Fake?

I'm not familiar with any of those coins but you're right about the Hong Kong thing. It's legal to make fake coins over there, so I stay away from any seller from HK. I hope these turn out to be the real deal though...

Very tough call.

I'd normally avoid Hong Kong like the plague. This could well be the exception to the rule, however. The seller has almost 300 Feedback going back to 2004, most of it for coin sales and a lot of it to people with large Feedback ratings themselves. His pics are excellent. The coins pictured look precisely as I'd expect them to in the context of their age (although I'm not specifically familiar with them).

He has only one Negative Feedback, and I quote:




That's entirely possible - there are as many fake Reales on the market as real ones - but there's no context associated with the Feedback. Did the seller identify the coin as fake in the auction? Is it a good enough fake to deceive the seller? I don't know.

I would be cautiously optimistic in this case, but I cannot make the decision for you.

Hi,
I've looked at many of these Hawaii 1883 1/2 Dala coins when I was planning to buy one. After some study, I concluded that a certified coin was the only option, since a pretty close forgery exists. A while back, I found a site describing markers for a forgery transferred from the authentic coin used to make the copies. I cannot find that site as reference now, but I still see enough to warrant concern. The king's bust is hard to analyze since forger's mistakes will get lost in those details. But on the reverse, the details should be crisp and clean, and not as indicated below:

1. The upper left quadrant of the crest has raised lump of metal that is not present on certified coins. (ie it did not exist on the original dies)
2. There are a few other raised areas that I did not see on the 6 certified coins I compared (arrows).
3. The detail of the central palm motif is far too mushy for an "AU" coin, or even a weak strike. I think they're trying to pass mushy details of a forgery as slight wear.
4. I don't like the finish of the coin. I don't see much in the way of a mint surface for the assumed grade, and the toning looks suspiciously as a way to hide problems with details.
5. The relief of the legends appears to vary from left to right--not seen on certified coins.
6. I dislike making HK a red flag, but it's a present reality that many fakes originate in China. As stated elsewhere, the biggest flag outside the coin are no returns. Then there are the telltale hidden buyer IDs, and this ominous comment on forgeries.

All of the above is just my opinion.

Yeah, if that's truly 13.4g that's pretty far off, especially if it's a pressure-cast basemetal copy.
One guess is the copy was made thicker to give it an accurate heft, but they didn't think exact weight mattered?
But that's pure speculation on my part--glad you avoided the Hawaii coin. Imo, that casts the others in doubt too.