Are those silver coins for sale genuine?
The coin collector on the look out for a good bargain eagerly peruses gold coin prices and takes a keen interest in the changing prices of silver coins for sale. The aim is to acquire collector coins that are certain to increase in value such as rare US coins, and other kinds of numismatic coins prized by the knowledgeable coin collector. If a coin collector buys their collector coins via a legitimate Website, or from reputable gold coin dealers and silver coin dealers, they can buy in confidence. However, the coin collector who chooses to buy gold coins or various types of rare currency from private individuals or retail outlets without a good name for honest dealing takes a risk. The high prices bullion dealers have been offering for gold bullion coins, and gold and silver coins in general has encouraged the numismatic coins counterfeiter. True, counterfeiters continue to duplicate contemporary coins in illegal operations that have been going on for hundreds of years, but forging high value collector gold and silver coins offers them much higher profit margins.
What is the difference between counterfeit and replica collector coins?
You do not need to be a beginning coin collector to become confused between counterfeit or forged numismatic coins and replica numismatic coins. The conceptual differences between these different kinds of coins can be simply explained in terms of counterfeit coins being copies of collector coins produced for the sake of illegal gain, while replicas are copies of collector coins produced for legitimate business reasons. The makers of counterfeit collector coins aim to convince the coin collector that their forged coins are really rare quarters or some other rare US coins that have a high coin value. In complete contrast, the producers of replica numismatic coins clearly indicate in their advertisements that these are replica collector coins, and they often alter some small detail of the coins’ appearance to make sure they cannot be confused with the genuine rare currency.
Trying to spot counterfeit collector coins
Unless you are an expert in the world of collector coins it might be extremely difficult to distinguish between original gold and silver coins, forgeries and replicas. The gold and silver coins experts draw on their experience in handling gold and silver coins to develop a kind of second sense for detecting counterfeit collector coins. Additional indications of forged silver numismatic coins include a lower weight than the genuine silver coins and the absence of reeding on the coin edges. Nevertheless, even experienced gold coin dealers and silver coin dealers can still find it difficult in certain cases to distinguish between the real collector coins and contemporary forgeries.
Counterfeit US gold coins that fooled the experts
A few years ago one of the famous rare US coins turned out to be a forgery. In the 1950s, a bag of 1853 twenty dollars gold coins minted at San Francisco was supposedly discovered in Arizona. These valuable gold bullion coins were offered for sale over subsequent years as genuine numismatic coins and buyers and sellers of collector coins accepted them as such. In 2008 the Society of Private and Pioneer Numismatists (SPPN) brought together a number of experts in US gold coins to determine whether these gold dollars were genuine. Weighing up the evidence they noticed that all of these coins had identical marks and this was clear proof that they were created from a single coin used as a transfer die.
Chinese counterfeiters of collector coins
A significant threat to the genuine coin collector has emerged from forgers of numismatic coins in China. The counterfeit coins produced in China include Morgan dollars and Liberty quarters. Another common Chinese coin forgery that bullion dealers have become wary of is the American silver eagle bullion coin.
Developments in hi-tech have came to the aid of counterfeiters of collector coins, for example, it is possible for them to make the dies for the counterfeit coins using original rare US coins. Occasionally the forgers have even been known to place forged rare quarters and other examples of counterfeit rare currency into imitation PCGS and NGC coin holders to increase the chances of deceiving the coin collector.
The cautious coin collector
Although the amount of counterfeit collector coins on the market should not cause the coin collector to panic, it certainly pays to be cautious. The weakest entry point for forged US gold and silver coins seems to be private sales on eBay and other private auction sites. To repeat the point made at the beginning of this article, the coin collector that wants to save themselves the disappointment and financial loss of falling for such a deception must make sure to only buy gold coins, or silver coins for sale from reputable Websites, gold coin dealers and silver coin dealers. The good name of these businesses depends on supplying the coin collector with genuine collector coins with authentic certification from one of the recognized coin grading agencies. The temptation to settle for anything else to save a few dollars on a collector coins purchase should be resisted since unusually cheap collector coins often turn out to be forged collector coins.