I am a newbie and have found world and ancient coins more interesting than USA coins. However...... I don't know how to recognize a fake yet. How can I get to recognise a fake coin and are their safer coins for a newbie to collect from other countries till I learn to recognise the fakes? Who should I purchase them from? Do dealers sell fakes? I live in Walled Lake Michigan and am looking for dealers that I can trust. Help!

Not too many fake Finnish coins around.

Cool! My Grandmother was from Finland.

Kerro Mummollesi terveisiä!

You know, that's a very big question. I guess the very first thing is to define what you want to collect. Again that's going to be another big question. One very very very, and I cannot help to insist on this point is when you try to get hold of silver coins that you may think it's a good deal.

Examples like the early American silver dollars like the 1804 dollar coins and quite a fair bit of early Asian coins that are counterfeit aren't minted in silver but some other metal. By color alone you can tell the differences between a genuine one and a counterfeit one.

Of course there are many other ways to tell, such as looking at the fine details of a coin and mass, which can possibly help you out.

Well that is a very brief and generic thing I typed out... I hope someone else will be able to point you in a better direction.

Knowledge of the coins you wish to collect is your best defense - you have to become familiar with them. Know the designs, the weight, size, proper dates & legends - all of this and more. There are also books on counterfeit coins.

There are plenty of trustworthy dealers - but which one depends on what you are looking for.

Living in Walled Lake, you are in luck! Michigan is a center for numismatics. Locals in your area have been ANA president and board members. You have more dealers in a one hour drive along 275-I75-696-I96 and over to US-23/I-94 than most other people do in eight hours across three states.

(1) Join the Michigan State Numismatic Society www.michigancoinclub.org and come to the Thanksgiving Weekend Show at the Hyatt Regency in Dearborn. Anyone in a Blue Sport Coat (being a board director) can help you with anything you need. MSNS polices its dealers. Every now and then you find one person out of 200 on the floor who claims not to know that this or that is questionable, but we question them and they remove the offending material lest we remove them.

(2) Join the ANA. They are even less forgiving. Three COMPLAINTS are enough to get a dealer kicked out of the ANA and selling just ONE fake is enough to cost a dealer his membership. Check out www.money.org and note that there are conventions coming to the midwest over the next couple of years.

You can trust MSNS and ANA member dealers. From them, you will gain the expertise you need to rely on your own judgement. It is a learning curve, to be sure. But I can think of few that are more fun.