Suspicious Bullion Silver Eagle

looks like almost a lighting issue... but than again I do see the odd seem running along her right foot. it almost looks like a crack. I get this a lot with my close-up pictures because I light from the side so I dont get shadows from the camera. its your judgement though, and I'm sure you know a lot more about the silver bullion than I would ever know. first thing I noticed was some discoloration on the reverse, but like I said, it may be a lighting problem.

I'm leaning toward fake. Either that or this coin was really poorly struck. Look at the obverse around the date on this coin:

http://cgi.ebay.com/1992-SILVER-EAG...AR_W0QQitemZ260038050526QQihZ016QQcategoryZ39488QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item260038050526

Lots of detail is missing on the Singapore coin. I doubt it would be wear because the high points on the coin seem good (assuming this coin would wear like a walker). I suppose it could be poor quality control at the mint, but I'm not sure a coin that is struck multiple times would be missing that much detail. That only leaves fake.

I think what we have here is a casting (injection molded) made from a transfer mold. The transfer process causing the loss of detail that has been noted. The color variations are likely due to the fact that the coin is cast also - striking causes mint luster which is TOTALLY ABSENT here. This seller has in the past sold a mix of real and counterfeit coins that he gets from China. The chances of this coin being real are in my opinion rather low.

snowman - Consider the following expense vs. revenue projection.

1. You buy a real Eagle in MS 63 condition for say $15
2. You produce a good transfer mold using dental plastic for say $50.
3. You use the mold (and an interim positive) to produce an injection mold for say $100.
4. You injection mold copies using a jewelry casting set up (possibly off hours in a commercial shop) - cost per 100 units say $150 for white metal.
5. You finish the coins with an edge roller using straight reeds for $50 per 100 units - labor including edge burnishing.
6. Total production costs for the first 100 units - about $415. Subsequent 100 unit runs cost $250.
7. You sell the real coin for $12 and each of the first 100 coins for $10 each (below melt) and you have $1012 in revenue. ebay fees and costs are included in your exorbitant mailing charge of $4 or $5 per coin.

That is a profit of $597 for the first 100 and $750 for every 100 thereafter - even if you just cover your costs for packing etc. with the mailing charge.

Multiply that by 100 molds creating 10,000 copies a month and you have a profitable little business. You need to set up bunches of dummy ebay account names - buy a few non existant items from each other to get a low 100% positive and you let the names age for 6 months to a year.

In a hut shell - that is what the Beijing Forgery group is doing. About 4 years ago, I spent a three month period tracking 6 sellers who are/were part of that group. They averaged sales of $12,000 per month per name. I identified the 6 sellers because they each handled IDENTICAL material. In the three month period I recorded all their sales they took in just over $214,000. They did mix in a lot of low end low grade coins - Belgian and French 5 Francs - Mexican 8Rs and bullion items just like the one in this auction.

I have to agree with snowman and longnine and you Bob. This coin looks like a bad fake but it doesn't surprise me that a one oz coin is starting to be counterfeited. With the rumors of a huge spike in the price of silver the unscrupulous people of the world will think they can make a killing off of the uneducated and naive

If you include the ones moving through the open air markets - I would bet it exceeds 10,000 per month from the group I am most familiar with in Beijing. One of the problems is that these coins then go to the secondary market and they do get resold.

Just today I got 4 Trade dollars to authenticate from a local dealer. Three were in ABC slabs and I cracked those out - one was raw. The dates were 1874 S MS60, 1875 CC AU55, 1876 CC MS60 and 1877 CC raw. All 4 are FAKES - two are casts in off metal and two are strikes from cast dies in debased silver. All four were edged after the coins were made (cast or struck) but they used three different methods for edging. Two produced excellent results - but with an overlap. One was pressed through a ring and one was touched up with a cutting tool to strengthen cast in place reeding. The SG's ranged from 9.08 to 10.03. The correct is 10.31.

In each case, the buyers were into these coins for in excess of $100, but they also share another element. In all 4 cases, the buyer(s) were greedy - they thought they were getting a real bargain and they really got taken.

The picture provided by the seller is actually quite good. I doubt that the coin is circulated since the fields look clean. Instead it shows missing details. This is typicial of a fake coin that has been made from a cast mold of an authentic coin.