Swimmingly Posted December 3, 2008 Report Share Posted December 3, 2008 What would you think of a local coin club auction, where a member's fakes (identified as such on the 2x2 cardboard) were sold? This was despite the fact that the coins themselves were virtually indistinguishable from the real thing, good enough to fool many if not most club members. The auctioneer mentioned being uncomfortable selling them, but did so, and they fetched from $25 to $45 apiece. After the club meeting finished, I asked a board member to propose a ban on auctioning such coins, even when the seller admits they're fake. Does your club have a policy? How would it be handled, should such a situation arise in your vicinity? Thanks, Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sturzny Posted December 3, 2008 Report Share Posted December 3, 2008 The problem is that if they were really good fakes some unscrupulous person could buy them and try to resell them as genuine. Unless the coins are properly stamped with the word "COPY" or equivalent they should not be sold and it may in fact be a violation of US law to do so. If your club is an ANA member club, it should certainly not permit this practice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobh Posted December 3, 2008 Report Share Posted December 3, 2008 Unless the coins are properly stamped with the word "COPY" or equivalent they should not be sold and it may in fact be a violation of US law to do so. I remember reading that it is in fact illegal to sell such fakes without having either the word "COPY" or "REPLICA" stamped onto it. There was a thread about that here somewhere, but I don't have time to hunt for it right now. Anybody else? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swimmingly Posted December 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 7, 2008 Woohoo! I just read the most recent club newsletter, and they were quick to take action. "Notice: effective immediately, any numismatic material that does not comply with the 1973 Hobby Protection Act will be refused from the membership auction. [ ... snip ... excerpts of the act itself ...snip ... ]" Full text of the act (not too hard to digest) may be found here: http://collectors.org/Library/Hobby_Protection_Act.asp ... nice to see the Right Thing happen so fast ... --Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grivna1726 Posted December 8, 2008 Report Share Posted December 8, 2008 Woohoo! I just read the most recent club newsletter, and they were quick to take action. "Notice: effective immediately, any numismatic material that does not comply with the 1973 Hobby Protection Act will be refused from the membership auction. [ ... snip ... excerpts of the act itself ...snip ... ]" Full text of the act (not too hard to digest) may be found here: http://collectors.org/Library/Hobby_Protection_Act.asp ... nice to see the Right Thing happen so fast ... --Dan I sure wish that law was more vigorously enforced when it comes to Chinese counterfeits openly sold on ebay by people like "Jinghuashei". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hiho Posted January 9, 2009 Report Share Posted January 9, 2009 What bothers me is that the Chinese counterfeiter producing these fakes considers himself a coin collector even though he is causing great harm to our favorite hobby on a daily basis. Of course they love him in China because he employs 35+ people. I think he should be locked up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
altyn Posted January 9, 2009 Report Share Posted January 9, 2009 If a coin is clearly and permanently stamped REPLICA or COPY, such a coin does little damage to the hobby (although I prefer even such coins did not exist). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobh Posted January 9, 2009 Report Share Posted January 9, 2009 If a coin is clearly and permanently stamped REPLICA or COPY, such a coin does little damage to the hobby (although I prefer even such coins did not exist). The problem with these Chinese dealers in replicas is that the coin that is shipped doesn't always have "REPLICA" stamped into it; it is merely photoshopped into the eBay image. Several of these coins have turned up in auctions by other sellers (one in Australia, for example) which was clearly one of the copies (distinguishing marks) but without the "REPLICA" stamp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmarotta Posted January 10, 2009 Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 If a coin is clearly and permanently stamped REPLICA or COPY, such a coin does little damage to the hobby (although I prefer even such coins did not exist). The Gallery Mint Museum created such replicas of famous coins, of course in Brilliant Uncirculated. It was inevitable that someone removed the word COPY and then tumbled and toned the famous and rare old copper and passed it to an unsuspecting coin dealer whose assitant tagged the fake for what it was. Look at the avatar. That is how I deal with all fakes. You can see it on the ANA Video of my talk in Pittsburgh. .. and yes, I would do it to a Type II and Type III 1804 Dollar and to an 1913 Liberty Nickel ... and to a silver plated (fouree) Owl, as there never were such things issued by the city of Athens. Fake is fake. It is axiomatic that nothing good can come from a fake. What is hard to understand? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
altyn Posted January 10, 2009 Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 The problem with these Chinese dealers in replicas is that the coin that is shipped doesn't always have "REPLICA" stamped into it; it is merely photoshopped into the eBay image. Several of these coins have turned up in auctions by other sellers (one in Australia, for example) which was clearly one of the copies (distinguishing marks) but without the "REPLICA" stamp. bobh, you are absolutely right: http://cgi.ebay.com/Russia-1-2-Rouble-Rubl...1QQcmdZViewItem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
altyn Posted January 10, 2009 Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 bobh, you are absolutely right: http://cgi.ebay.com/Russia-1-2-Rouble-Rubl...1QQcmdZViewItem It appears that the listing of that supposedly fake coin has been removed. It looked to me as one of those "replicas" without the word REPLICA, just as bobh pointed out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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