Here are 3 worthless fake coins (and one nearly worthless genuine coin included for scale).

These are counterfeits of the exceedingly rare 1 kopek copper plate money issued at Ekaterinburg in 1726. I bought the group of 3 for less than $20 many years ago because I will probably never see the real thing (except in books), let alone own it.

The reverses are blank.

A real one (of the middle plate) was sold in Germany in 1932 by Adolph Hess Nachfolger ("Dubletten Russischer Museen", Catalog 210, Lot 724) for RM 215. A real novodel (Lot 725) brought RM 15.

I sure wouldn't mind counterfeit coins...

I admit having counterfeit coins:

1839 Borodin Ruble



1914 Gangut Ruble



Again, if I didn't buy these, the genuine ones are at least 4 figures... let alone where I could even find them in the first place...

I don't have a Gangut Ruble (real or not).

However, I do have the Borodino Memorial Ruble in my collection. It was cleaned long ago and has now retoned. Notice the differences in the hair.

Of course, that Borodin ruble shown here is an awful copy. The better one here is used here as an example:

http://coinpeople.com/index.php?showtopic=2548

That I also suspect is a counterfeit coin...

I'm not an expert in the diagnostics of the Borodino Ruble, but I don't see anything about that coin which screams "FAKE!" at me. If it is a forgery, then it is a dangerous one.

What is it about the coin that makes you question its authenticity? Is the weight wrong? Or is there something about it that "just doesn't look right" to you? Under magnification, can you see die ejection lines in the edge reeding?

Just some links of counterfeit rubles, good enough to make me cry. I will comment on my 1839 ruble in the next post as it will get a bit too long.

There seems to be an upsurge of counterfeit Russian coins on the German eBay and these are a few examples:

1766 "Pattern Ruble" - chances of one getting such rare pattern coins? Nil, unless you have the money to spend. Even then, that is rarely mentioned in auction catalogues.

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8346835433

1757 Siberian Trial 5 kopek - also not likely to get hold of

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8348093218

1726 Square 1 kopek - also a fake

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8348091882

1839 Borodin Ruble - the rim totally fails it!!!!!!

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8350131586

And so on, the list goes on and on...

Back to the story of the Borodin ruble, here is an example of such coins in Yale University collection. http://www.library.yale.edu/slavic/coins/h...274_267.html#ob

Notice how similar the 1834 ruble and 1839's design of Alexander I are similar.

And here is a blown-up image of my 1834 rubles and the 1839 ruble together. Sorry, I don't have the coins with me or I would have retaken more photos.

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/3808/34394hq.jpg
Note: 470kb

The only thing I remembered that the diameters of all of them VARIED by a few macrometers As for the Borodin ruble, some odd things that I remembered was the oddity of the color, but it could be toned so I cannot tell. As for now, I guess I have to work out from the pictures available.

As for quite a fair bit of Borodin rubles that I have seen, at least 5 by now, most of the decent fake rubles have almost perfect reverse (i.e. the monument side) due to it's simplicity. Of course, as I haven't seen a real Borodin ruble, I can't quite tell except to compare the portrait of the Alexander I against the genuine ones that I have.

The real trouble with the obverse is with Alexander I's hair and the signature of Gube. F. which is found at the base of the collar. Very often with counterfeits, it seems that the hair of Alexander I's are struck too weak or often modified till you get "spagetti" hairlike features like the first coin I have mentioned here. My best guess is that when the "weak" hair structure got worned out over striking several counterfeit coins, they were re-engraved so that they could "feature" more hair, but then you get distorted features.

As such, I believe that this coin could be a "high-end" counterfeit.

Spagetti hair Borodin Ruble for sale:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=8348217053

Ebay.de seems to have even more fake Russian coins than ebay.com and there are some sellers who seem to deal exclusively in them.

I can't believe anyone would pay €101:- plus shipping for that plate kopek forgery. A real one would bring a hundred times that amount (or more), so presumably both the buyer and the seller know that the coin is a fake.

The seller says "Die Expertise auf die Authentizität wurde nicht durchgeführt... Deshalb keine Garantie, keine Rücknahme und kein Tausch." which I understand to mean that the coin has not been authenticated (big surprise, huh?) and that the sale is final with no return privilege (again, that says a lot).

Gx, I hope your coin is real. Maybe it's worth sending to NGC or PCGS for authentication to know for sure. If it's a fake, it looks like a dangerous one.

Have a look at the edge under magnification. Can you see fine scratches in the reeding (from the coin being ejected from the collar after being struck)? If you can't, that might be a sign that it is bad.