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Saturday, October 22, 2011

Fake Silver Coins On eBay

Original Article

Use commen sense and be careful when buying coins from eBay; especially raw (unslabbed) silver or gold coins. Chinese counterfeting rings have been peddling these coins (mostly Morgan silver dollars) for several years. eBay has tied to stop these phony auctions but many people still get taken in.



Most of these coins were sold from China and are now reappearing back on eBay as the original buyers try to sell them; knowingly or unknowingly passing off these fakes into the coin market. The quality is sometimes very good as evidenced in this photo of fake Morgans:







Red Flags to look out for:




* If a deal looks too good to be true, it probably is.

* Seller is located in China or other Asian country.

* Seller lists coin for short one day auction, often with a low opening bid.

* Seller is new and has low feedback.

* Seller does not offer a reasonable (7 day or more) return policy.



On eBay, I recommend buying only certified gold and silver coins graded and encapsulated by PCGS, NGC, ANACS or ICG. Other grading services are out thre but they are of dubious quality. Stick with these four. Graded coins all have a serial number which can easily be cross referenced on the grading service website before bidding. A few fake PCGS and NGC slabs were on the market but these could have easily been checked out by running the serial number. Most of the fakes are raw coins.



As far as raw (ungraded) coins go, I will not buy these sight unseen on eBay or anywhere else. If I can't personally examine it, feel it, etc, I don't want it. I DO buy raw coins at coin shows, tag sales, estate sales but again, I'm examining the coin before I lay my hard earned money down for it.




Recommended Article detailing the manufacture of fake coins:



http://coins.about.com/od/worldcoins...rfeiting-Ring/




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