Three Ebay Counterfeits - Three Classes - Odd Final Prices

Three auctions ended tonight all involving "counterfeit" coins. I was the winner in two cases.

The three coins represent three distinct classes of forgeries (in my opinion) that are encountered on ebay all the time. All three were correctly identified (more or less). But the prices realized were VERY surprising to me.

The first coin is technically a REPLICA. It is a coin made to look exactly like a real coin but NOT to Circulate. It could be used as a filler since it looks the same as the original. It is a silver cast copy of the 1915 Army of the North - Peso issued at Chihuahua (KM 619). I have never owned a silver casting of this coin so I bid $20 and won it for openers. If it is actually silver (which it may be) then I paid only a few dollars over melt. It is a good match for the originals I already own and I want to check the quality of the detail. It was priced in my opinion at about where it should have been. I would have lost it if anyone had bid against me. Here is the link to the auction

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...230371904553

The second example is one of those ALTERED ORIGINAL 8Rs in which an engraver took a very common coin and made it appear to be a Rarity by altering the Date, Mint and Assayer initials. The coin purports to be an 1858 Oaxaca 8 Real but looks NOTHING at all like an original. The host is a coin struck using Standardized Dies which was actually made many years later. Now this coin, which was identified as altered, is JUNK. It is NOT a good filler at all - yet it sold for $271.60. That is TWENTY TIMES more than the silver value. It is just a damaged chunk of silver - no more no less. The person that faked this one can make as many more as he pleases. There is essentially LESS value in this Alteration than in the first copy because it does not match the appearance of the original.

Here is the link to that auction.
http://cgi.ebay.com/1858-Oa-AE-OAXA...IN_W0QQitemZ230371897821

Now the final coin in the trilogy is actually a RARITY - it is a CONTEMPORARY CIRCULATING COUNTERFEIT - the Riddell # 368 in very nice condition with no serious damage. It is the best example of the #368 I have ever seen. It sold for $35, which was good for me, but a real surprise.

Here is the link to that auction.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...230371891534

I guess the bidders on ebay will never cease to amaze me.