Although none of the coins seen here were roll finds, the subject matter is too important to avoid. There are huge operations in China that do nothing but produce counterfeit coins. These are not just the usual, “run of the mill” fakes that have been made for years. Some of these are good enough to fool the experts.
It is unfortunate that the practice of creating counterfeit coinage in China is a legal enterprise. Keep in mind though, that there is something called the “Hobby Protection Act” that outlines the rules for the sale and distribution of numismatic reproductions of United States Coins. Rules that are, of course routinely broken. You can read the text of the “Hobby Protection Act” at the end of this article.
Most of the coins I chose to show you are relatively easy to identify as fakes to those of us that know what to look for. Collectors who are less familiar with the shapes of the digits in the dates, for example, may actually have a tough time deciding whether or not these coins might be real.
Many of these fakes are made of the correct metal alloys, on planchets that are of the proper weight and thickness. Further, many of these counterfeits are actually minted on refurbished coin presses that were sold by the United States Mint to other countries who then ended up selling them to the Chinese counterfeiters.
Yep, you read that correctly! Many of these fakes are being produced on older coinage presses that were used by the United States Mint many years ago!!!
Even more shocking is that the internet auction companies where these coins are being sold appears to be doing very little to stem the tide of all these U.S. fakes entering the marketplace or anything shut these counterfeiters down! One major online auction company recently had the law laid down to them by the Canadian Government as in Canada, any copy of a coin is considered counterfeit. The auction company dropped the illegal listings of Canadian counterfeit coins.
Hopefully the same will be done with respect to the listing and sales of PHONY United States Coins!
FAKE STATUE OF LIBERTY COMMEMORATIVE DOLLAR
NOTE THE DATE ON THIS PIECE! IT WAS ALTERED TO READ 1906, YET THESE COINS WERE NOT MINTED UNTIL 1986!
COUNTERFEIT MORGAN DOLLARS ARE VERY DECEPTIVE! IN THIS CASE, THE DIGITS IN THE DATE ARE POORLY DUPLICATED BUT THEY CAN STILL FOOL THE NOVICE COLLECTOR!
FAKE 1895 MORGAN DOLLAR
FAKE 1872 SEATED LIBERTY DOLLAR
FAKE 8 REALES OF SPAIN
Here are the “RULES and REGULATIONS” as written in the Act which was originally approved in 1973 and subsequently ammended. NOTE: “Sec. 304.6 Marking requirements for imitation numismatic items”.
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[Code of Federal Regulations] [Title 16, Volume 1, Parts 0 to 999] [Revised as of January 1, 1998] From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
TITLE 16–COMMERCIAL PRACTICES CHAPTER I–FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION PART 304–RULES AND REGULATIONS UNDER THE HOBBY PROTECTION ACT–Table of Contents
Sec. 304.5 Marking requirements for imitation political items. Authority: 15 U.S.C. 2101 et seq. Source: 40 FR 5496, Feb. 6, 1975, unless otherwise noted. Sec. 304.1 Terms defined. (a) Act means the Hobby Protection Act (approved November 29, 1973; Sec. 304.2 General requirement.
Imitation political or numismatic items subject to the Act shall be Sec. 304.3 Applicability.
Any person engaged in the manufacturing, or importation into the Sec. 304.4 Application of other law or regulation.
The provisions of these regulations are in addition to, and not in Sec. 304.5 Marking requirements for imitation political items.
(a) An imitation political item which is manufactured in the United Sec. 304.6 Marking requirements for imitation numismatic items.
(a) An imitation numismatic item which is manufactured in the United [40 FR 5496, Feb. 6, 1975, as amended at 53 FR 38942, Oct. 4, 1988] |
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