Fake China Silver

Just saying if the seller is from China, it is a fake is almost good for a law suite. Be carefull with blunt statements like that. Contrary to popular opinions, not all people in china make faked items. Not all coins in and from China are counterfeits.
Not sure how intercontinental laws work but if you said that about a person from China now living here, you could almost bet on a law suite.

I appreciate the sentiment, but if novices here can tell fakes, ebay can train (and pay) an expert. After all, they're the ones profiting from the system.

It was never said about "a person". It was not politically correct and it makes a wide sweeping generalization. For that I apologize. I am not trying to hurt feels, unless you sell counterfeit coins. It is like saying white guys can't jump. People from Texas talk funny. Is it right, NO. Again, I apologize for generalization and not being PC. Sue me, my attorney would love it. No single person has been defamed. Only the person who sells counterfeit silver coins has a case. It would be like the drug dealer reporting that his drugs had been stolen.

I stand by "I have not seen a raw Chinese coin on ebay that was real yet" when searching for Chinese Silver, except the bullion is real, I think. I have not seen every silver and gold Chinese coin on ebay.

I would be really careful about purchases from Southeast Asia. Even slabs and bullion can be counterfeited and have.

I am less than a novice on Chinese silver and gold. I look at the Dynasty coins and have not seen a raw one that was real yet. The Republic ones are worse.

Some of the Reales don't look correct, but some look very good. Some fake Reales even have "chops" to make you think they are real. Swamperbob has enlightened me several times on the counterfeited Reales.

Instead of the true problem, counterfeit coins from China, the immediate response from some here is fear of litigious action.

When more of the fake Morgans, Peace dollars, Walkers, etc, etc hit the streets, maybe some will care.

Please report counterfeit coins no matter where they are from. Take a few minutes to protect our hobby.

I am going to Church now.

Flame away

Rant over

Check out http://www.flickr.com/photos/coinforgeryebay/


fcrazo, that link really opened my eyes.

ebay ( ebay) will not hire an "expert" to vet anything, they make a lot of money off of the counterfeit coin sales. If enough of us report the counterfeit coins maybe something will be done.

I am sorry that I have allowed my passion, for our hobby and some of our businesses, to disregard others feelings and make inappropriate statements.

ebay is the largest and has a way to report. Let's use it and see if it changes anything.

We do care. Instead of running our volunteer butts off doing ebay's job, we need to boycott buying any coins on ebay until they clean up their house.

biggfredd is right. Unfortunately think of this. There well may be thousands of members here on this forum. How many do you think would spend any time complaining to ebay? And with virtaully millions of people, all over the world using ebay, what percentage would ever even know of our futile attempts. IF, and that is a big IF, you could get every member of every coin forum on the internet to complain to ebay about forgeries, do you really think they would listen or care?
Like most buisnesses, ebay just laughs all the way to the bank.

To be fair, "German silver" is not real silver either. Both terms are well-known in the jewelry trade--ultimately the issue is one of quality, not exact terminology.

that ebay needs to take more ownership for the abusers of their site. Something for coin collectors to consider is that counterfeit coins are a minor subset of a much larger problem: ie the trafficking of fake/forged "luxury goods", which includes fashion items, watches, gemstones, etc. Conceivably, ebay could run an office of 100+ people who did nothing more than familiarize themselves with specific (genuine) retail niches and their respective forgeries. To their credit, ebay has teamed up with manufacturers to root out fakes on their site. I know, because I was involved in a sting involving Swiss watch forgeries a few years ago, something which ebay could not accomplish on their own.

A lot is said about the Chinese creating a "counterfeiting problem" when the reality is...this is has been an aspect of business in Asia since Roman times. It's simply more glaring today due to China's growing manufacturing capacity. Yet, from long ago, people have come to the region looking for "bargains" on items of value. Many westerners are simply greedy, supposing the locals don't know what they're selling, and become easy marks for opportunistic sellers to profit from their ignorance/arrogance. Here is a classic example.

I would suggest the trade of counterfeit coins on ebay isn't all that different. Ultimately, people need to educate themselves, and if something looks too good to be true, then it probably is--stop kidding yourself!

I would think that would be violation, like "not Ford, not Chevy."