This is it:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=160229512554

A hard coin to find, but is it real? I'm not at all convinced by this coin. The main crown above the eagle looks peculiar. The eagle itself sort of stands out somehow. But maybe its a legitimate variant, I'd like to hear some thoughts, especially from 'copper heads'!

You are absolutely correct in your observations - the eagle looks bad, the crown looks bad, the item looks bad.
It happened to be my favorite series in the Russian Imperial copper and believe me, the small denominations are very hard to find, especially in decent grade.

Thank you IgorS. The whole copper series (except for 5 kop EMs) is damn near impossible, small silver as well. Even the common 1802 2 kop EM is not easy to find. That's why I was itching to bid on that one, but on closer examination it did not sit well with me. Thank you for confirming my suspicions. My compliments on your coin btw

Bad news is somebody's out of nearly 600 bucks!

Yes, it is crazy to pay that kind of money for junk.
BTW, In 10 years on Ebay not a single small copper coin from the series, except for 1802 EM 2 kopeks and possibly 1803 EM 2 kopeks (not sure).

I had some bad experiences with this seller. I bought 1802 Poltina from him and he guaranteed me that it was genuine, but when I received it it was an obvious fake. It was not even made from silver. When I asked seller about returning it, there was no response. I had to open Paypal dispute to get my money back.

I believed this seller is mixing a lot of fakes with genuine coins and all 5 gold roubles from his last sale looked very suspicious to me. They all went for thousands of dollars, but I believe they were all fakes.

I agree. The style is all wrong.

Igor, your small coppers are wonderful. I have only the 5 kopecks of this issue.

seller was notified that the the 1805 1k was a fake a few day ago. . do we turn him in to ebay? notify the buy? the buyer has over 2000 pos. feedback, and should put up a good fight.

AND it gets even better. He now has listed more coins, including a large number of Anna and Catherine II rubles, among others, some of which are suspect, but i was getting too frustrated to look at them closely Some look good, some certainly dont. I guess its time to play "spot the fake", not a fun game.

Personally, id just stay away from this guy. He has no knowledge of what he is selling, i am suspicious of the origin of his inventory.

You might be right about lack of knowledge.

But the fact that the seller did not withdraw the item after being notified raises questions in my mind about whether he/she knows more than he/she lets on.

It is one thing to unknowingly sell a fake. It is another to do so when doubts about authenticity have been raised by an experienced and informed collector.

The thing is, how exactly can we trust people? If I am a seller and if I was given a notice that if it's a fake assuming if it's a genuine coin, how can I tell that this person is not pulling my leg? It's too likely that in a hot market, some crooks might think they can pull off sellers by claiming that it's a fake coin and ask it to be sold at a cheaper price. Like it or not, I've seen buyers asking sellers to end it early at a fixed price which is totally illegal. Wouldn't be too surprised if some would "report" it in that manner.

THis is why "fleabay" is strictly "caveat emptor" without question.

And im not just talking about coins.
Worthless junk represented as good product can is everywhere. Cell phone batteries, camera accessories, plumbing fixtures, car parts....... take your pick. Ive been stung, maybe, 1 in 10 on that type of stuff. Yup bargains are to be had. but you need to know what you are buying. Rest assured, 99% of the time the seller knows what they are selling.