Counterfeit Coins Question

I think everybody should collect counterfeit coins to be able to defend yourself against a lack of knowledge when one is presented to you. If you are going to buy them, they should be clearly identified to you as counterfeit.

Herein is a problem: What if the seller either knowing or unknowingly offers a coin which you suspect as counterfeit, what do you do about it?

If you declare it to be a dud and you are wrong, it does does damage to a good dealer's reputation. It does your own reputation no good either.

If you decide that a coin is NOT a dud and you buy it, and it later proves to be a dud, the loss is yours, especially if you find out years later on. This has happened to me, and I was not amused!

So what do you do? Examine the coin, remain suspicious, and walk away quietly? THAT ain't no good either! At least with ebay, you can let your suspicions be known on the CCF, with no skin off any body's nose.

Altogether, counterfeit coins create an unhappy situation for all.

The only positive thing that I can say about counterfeit coins is the statement I made in the first paragraph.

if you have a doubt about the authencity of the coin, then dont buy it.

warm wishes.

Look at it like this. If you do collect counterfeit or fake coins, who would know? Do you think the counterfeit coin police will come to your house? Of course if you run around broadcasting you have them and what can anyone do about that, eventually someone will.
I too am not sure if it is against any law to own any kind of fake coins but I'm sure selling one as real is sort of not to good an idea. Yet copies, replicas, etc are made and sold all the time as long as they are so stated on the coin itself.

I have many counterfeit coins in my collection, mostly Spanish Colonial but also a spattering of US. They are in holders clearly marked "counterfeit". Some were bought are real coins, most were bought knowing they were counterfeit. I have both "modern" (i.e. China Specials) but most are "contemporary" ones meant to pass in circulation at the time they were made. I am unaware of any law that says I cannot have them if marked accordingly, just laws that say I cannot try and pass them as real coins. As for the comment above
"If you decide that a coin is NOT a dud and you buy it, and it later proves to be a dud, the loss is yours, especially if you find out years later on. This has happened to me, and I was not amused!"
I bought a few expensive coins from one dealer and discovered they were altered coins about 12 years later and went back with the coins and the receipts and he refunded my money after careful examination of the coins. Both he and I were fooled by the very clever alterations, they were discovered by my 21 yr old son after he made a super high resolution scan and enlarged the image the size of my computer monitor. (That is how I check all my new coins now) It pays to have a good relationship with an honest dealer (especially a PNG dealer, they offer lifetime guarantee of genuine)

Great point!