Ron, I have no idea what you said in post 15. Where did I say that a slab is a guarantee of coin most likely being an original? Experts NGC uses cannot tell fake from real nowadays. I am not even talking about problem series like Yefimoks. I am talking about 19th century copper coins.
I will say something else, and will shut up... Copper fakes (good ones) today are made by molding an original coin and that mold becomes a "die" capable of producing 10 - 15 fakes. Then they take an original in bad shape and "strike" a coin over it. The only way to tell these is to find twins. cannot tell it from looking at photos and comparison to an original coin. This is why I am out of overstrikes altogether. Anyone wondered where all those 1796 em PP came from lately? Used to be a fairly rare coin...
I have seen very nice edging jobs on 18th century fake silver rubles. I saw a common 5 kop of Catherine that was fake, and I would not be able to tell that it is a fake had it not been struck over a fake coin. Steve will confirm.
These are scary times, and I would do away with any RNS fakes for a purpose of a fake database. Anyone buying those as originals today with all the books and info available, as well as, different free databases -- is plain lazy, and it should serve him right.
As for me:
1. I do not buy overstrikes.
2. I am sticking to pedigree and known sources to buy more expensive coins.
3. I try not to worry too much about what I bought recently.
Scary times...