Tuesday, October 27, 2009

BEWARE: OLD COINS CAN BE FAKES

Do not buy old coins without knowing the dealer or source. Coin World newspaper reports that over a million counterfeit coins made in China in recent years have sold as rarities at high prices. It is not illegal to make a fake U.S. coin in China, but U.S. law requires that the word "copy" be stamped on the coin. The rule has been ignored. Gold and lesser coins are being made.



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I know first hand that this is so. I bought a variety of Morgan Silver Dollars recently at auction. All in cardboard/viewer holders. One in particular was a 1881 Carson City Silver Dollar. It looked really great in the holder. HOWEVER, when taken out it weighed only about 17 grams. Very short of the required amount to be real. this is one of the best fakes I have ever seen. One would think that it was a very good used piece in wonderful condition. Guess again, it is a FAKE!!! Always take the coins out of the containers and inspect them seperately and if in doubt, weigh them against a known source. Do not let someone SALT the mine, as they did with me.

Anonymous said...

Terry, I was in a Chinese bazzar two years ago and they were selling Americian Trade Dollars. They do such a great job of copying the real McCoy it isn't funny..Some are one hundred years old. They would melt the real Trade dollar remove a percentage of the Silver,use copper as a fill in and restamped the coin..down to the exact diaminer and weight of the orginal coin.