This seller appears to have some nice material for sale:

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZsalesQ2dlora

I always get a little worried when I see so many rare items for sale at once. But I can't see anything obviously out of order with any of the auctions.

What do you think? Is it too good to be true?

Bobh, do take caution. In earlier Julian's post, he did mention that the Column ruble and many others are counterfeits. The 1798 1/4 ruble too isn't genuine either, as well as a fair amount other coinages like the 1760, 1796 10 kopecks.

The only nice thing is, his 1987-1988 5 ounce (or rather 20 ounce) coin set is genuine. I have the set and I don't think that would be counterfeited.

Too good to be true after looking at everything. Even the ancients are suspicious.

Another fake from the list:

http://cgi.ebay.com/RUSSIA-ORIGINAL-1744-1...1QQcmdZViewItem

This one, for example, was published as counterfeit in Russian Numismatic Society Journal 76.

The seller used to be registered in Israel but now claims Germany. Quite a few of the pieces are bad (1796, 1760, etc.) but others are not. The ancients being sold are, I think, rather common in Israel and are probably genuine.

I inquired a year ago about one of the seller's coins, out of curiosity as I had no intention of bidding. She claimed to be a widow selling off her late husband's collection; he was an "expert" numismatist.

RWJ

Is there ANY way to stop this "seller". Actually, I think this is in our (Ebay users) best interests.
Any idea ?

At least Roubles of 19th century are ok (types 1832-1885), except for the Column Rouble.

It's difficult to stop sellers that sell both counterfeits and original coins at the same time. At best, ebay just kills the counterfeited coins listing if it's proven to be true but often it's more than difficult.

How can we convince EBay that a listing is for a fake coin? I think this is very difficult to do. I tried it before...50-50

I have send report fake multi listing on eBay from the same seller couple days back, but those items still on sale(In my opinion it is damage eBay reputation)
.Also I try advice the buyers not to buy from the seller.

That ebay seller also has some Peter 1 grivnas that caught my eye. Are they faking these little silver coins too? They seem not quite right.

You'll never find Peter I grivnas in that price. Why bother getting them from ebay unless you are 1000+% confident that it's genuine or else waste money buying a counterfeit.

Problem with ebay is they are trying to profit too much that they aren't bothering to hire proper numismatics experts. Give me a break - sometimes even amateurs can tell from time to time as well as they want to profit from the listing and final fees etc.

If you want a genuine rare coin, buying from ebay is definately the wrong place unless sellers are willing to refund it if proven to be counterfeit.

I agree. this seller is just a blatent purveyor of fakes.

I was mostly curious of the grivnas, because i have not seen those fakes yet. Rustypennies has a genuine 1705 for sale around 300, as a comparison, they look very close, other than the toning looks artificial on the ebay 1705.
(and on all those rubles)
Has anyone here seen any literature on a 1705 fake grivnya?

I would say - if you don't know the seller or the seller has no / bad reputation, it could be dangerous. If the seller has a good reputation, it's completely ok. For example, in my eBay shop I have already sold many good pieces, including silver of Peter I, II and III, gold and platinum of 19th century. Now I have altyn 1704 on sale. All guaranteed genuine. If it's on eBay, it does not necessarily mean, it's bad

Normal coins you can buy on eBay, usually it's not a problem if you can spot bad and cheap counterfeits. Sometimes you can find bargains there, e.g. 3 kopeks 1858 BM - Scarce Warsaw mint in a good grade, from the unknown seller:

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewIt...p;rd=1&rd=1

or this one - rare variant of cipher for this date:

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewIt...p;rd=1&rd=1

It's not so bad, a good place for hobby hunting, IMHO

[attachmentid=1994][attachmentid=1993][attachmentid=1993]OK. back to that 1705 Grivna from that ebay fake dealer. I put together some images of other 1705s from a quick google search. The top two are novodels. and the one with the red background is from ebay seller of this thread. There is one (at least ) glaring difference in the ebay coin that can be seen even with low resolution. I am convinced it is a fake, just from the scan. Could some one with a bitkin or other book confirm this is not a variation? I only have Uzd, which doesnt illustrate this coin for 1705