A helpful guide against buying fake coins

As you guys know, I am an avid silver coin collector so I've been hoarding silver coins from around the world. Sadly fake coins can surprise you when you least expect it, costing you money and causing you to rip your hair out. Fake coins are getting more and more sophisticated, almost being identical to the genuine counterparts. Today I'll give you a coinsnnotes guide to spotting fake coins.

Lets start with this.
Which of these coins  are fake?



Well sadly the two on the Left are fake. Lets take a look at these coins in detail with some testing.



The real silver coin (1903) has rims that are rather natural while the other two seem to be rather pasted on quite sloppily.

That was the first indication.

Then came the edges of the coins. It was evident that one of the less sophisticated fakes was thinner while the other had this strange 'modern machine' appeal to it.
Take a look

The one in the middle is real

Moving on to weight differences, I learned that a 'silver test kit' won't do since those have also been faked in the past.
The less sophisticated fake weighs at only 17.95g  




The more sophisticated fake comes close, but no cigar


The real one, well its real alright. And just to remove the benefit of the doubt, this 1903 coin was bought at a reputable dealer in Vietnam. While the others were bought in the streets of Hanoi.





Here are 2 more fake silver coins that I spotted. Luckily the rest of the few hundred ounces are genuine.  






You are welcome.

If you guys want to buy these fakes for testing other coins, you can by messaging me. They are a loss to me, but they could be useful to you.
-Daniel

Really nice job man.

As the Asian market is looming with fake silver coins (except Japan), it's good to know how much money to spend on what's treasure and what's crap.

The more that I look at it, the reeding on my fake coins are really poorly done on coins. That's probably the first place you should look if you're looking for a fake.

The other day I was making a Numisdoc for fake Chinese copper and silver, including contemporaries, since I have one and it's worth much more than a modern fake). Once you really get into collecting coins, you can tell what's real and what's not.

I am interested in buying fake coins as I have a section on my site about Fake identification, I already have a couple of fake Piastre's what other coins do you have ?

Thata about all the silver fakes I have. I did how ever find a fake 10 euro cent coin and a fake 1 pound coin.
-Daniel

Cita: Walder CoinsI am interested in buying fake coins
... what other coins do you have ?

 I currently have nine fake UK one pound coins.



  Easiest to tell are the lower two, as the portrait is not very clear; all have rubbish edge lettering.

    Year    Portrait            Reverse                                    Edge                         Alignment

• 1989       OK        Error - English Oak         Error - DECUS ET TUTAMEN                OK
  

• 1995       OK        Error - Scottish Lion        Error - DECUS ET TUTAMEN                OK
  

• 1996       OK         OK - Celtic Cross             OK - DECUS ET TUTAMEN                OK
  

• 2000      Poor        OK - Welsh Dragon       OK - PLEIDIOL WYF I'M GWLAD      Mis-aligned
  

• 2001       OK         OK - Celtic Cross             OK - DECUS ET TUTAMEN           Mis-aligned
  

• 2001       OK         OK - Celtic Cross             OK - DECUS ET TUTAMEN           Mis-aligned    
  

• 2002       OK         OK - Three Lions              OK - DECUS ET TUTAMEN           Mis-aligned    
  

• 2003      Poor        OK - Royal Arms              OK - DECUS ET TUTAMEN           Mis-aligned
  

• 2003       OK         OK - Royal Arms              OK - DECUS ET TUTAMEN               OK
  

  Just in case anyone wanted to know details of each coin.

Zac, you know it is illegal to knowingly have these coins in your possession.  
Plus fake 1 pound coins are extremely common in the UK, 3 in every 100. The hard ones to find is a fake euro coin, especially if it's a 10 cent coin :P
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/blog/2012/apr/02/how-to-spot-fake-one-pound-coin

Cita: coinsnnotes2011Zac, you know it is illegal to knowingly have these coins in your possession.  
Plus fake 1 pound coins are extremely common in the UK, 3 in every 100. The hard ones to find is a fake euro coin, especially if it's a 10 cent coin :P
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/blog/2012/apr/02/how-to-spot-fake-one-pound-coin

I don't think it's illegal to have them in your possession; if it is the police can come and arrest me as I have plenty in my fake coins tray. I could only ever see there being prosecutions if a person is caught using large numbers of them, or if they are caught making or distributing them.

Zac, I'm only joking

https://en.numista.com/forum/topic3796.html

   About nine months ago I added on the above Topic on 30-Jan-2012, 05:59PM
There I showed an interesting forgery, where the portrait had been created from new, rather than copied.
I always intended to keep it, but accidentally spent it. Never seen one since.
Until today - I got another in some change; see below. It is on the left in the last two pictures.



  Alongside is a normal 2008 which shows the correct reverse, from early part of the year. Later in 2008 it had the new shield design. Either one did not have the bridge series that the forgery has on the reverse - from 2007 coin. The edge markings on the forgery are a series of crosses. So the forgery has the same obverse and date as the one from January, but a different reverse.
  Sorry about the night-time pictures, but I hope the portrait can be seen it is different.  

Cita: coinsnnotes2011Zac, I'm only joking

On the Dutch wiki page of counterfeiting money, the legal article is cited. If I understand it properly, the counterfeiting of money itself makes you punishable, and knowingly releasing counterfeit money into circulation does. Possession seems not to be a crime.
So the only thing ZacUK can do with a clear conscience is hoarding them (or swap them away).

As far as I know, the aluminium 1974 US penny is illegal to possess. But that's not a counterfeit.

  There is an expression 'you wait ages for a bus to come along then get two together' and that applies to forgeries that I got. None for months then yesterday (see above) I got one, with obverse created from new by the forger. And today I got another, which this time has both sides re-designed ...



   Together with the third picture of a pound coin that has been drilled through - must have been a tough drill to do that. Though the condition of pound coins in UK is rubbish as they wear away too easily, and next year will have been around for thirty years.
  Back to today's forgery - I hope it can be seen that the obverse portrait is raised up, and that the reverse looks like an original design but has been hand-made, like the obverse. The edge is good, with crosses over the milling; the obverse/reverse alignment is 20 degrees off though.  

dear coinsnotes,

 fakes are a grave problem. technology for perfect fakes are available. recently in bangalore i came across pavement sellers selling morgan dollars for 5 usd. they are perfect replicas. diameter is the same. thickness has to be verified.

Sorry for raising an old topic.

Could you tell by the photo of the 1-pound coin edge if it is fake?


The letters "T", "U" and "T" are not properly 'printed', is this an error or a fake?

The coin is 1992 and the obverse corresponds to the year.

 Looks alright (not fake). Welcome to the forum also.  

Thank you  

Is it a fault / error in the "underembossed" letters T, U, T in the word TUTAMEN then?

 Not really, just a bad design or worn/broken edge lettering dies - same as on those £2 coins for Gunpowder Plot that also have under-stamped letters ...
https://en.numista.com/forum/topic31494.html

any thoughts on this coin?

Any thoughts on this coin?

I say definitely fake. The year on yours looks to me like 1993, however, the English lions design was only on coins minted in 1997 and 2002.

I got a nice fake one yesterday myself. The queens head was upside down almost when turning the coin round (practically coin alignment), and it was the Royal Arms design, but with the year 2002. Again, the Royal Arms with 4th portrait was only in 1993, 2003 & 2008. I've kept it to one side in case anyone collects fake £1 coins

OK, this got me checking, so I've been through all my £1 coins in my petty cash box in work, and also I had a couple of bags of £1 coins in the work safe. Altogether I've found another 4 fake £1 coins! Needless to say I've "bought" them off work, replacing them with genuine £1 coins.

That gives me a total of 5 so far, might have to start a display case for them

I have quite a few fake £1 coins, this one takes pride of place:
https://en.numista.com/forum/topic42487.html

Definitely a mongrel rather than a mule.



The reverse is the Welsh Dragon from the UK pound coins, either
1995
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces2577.html
or 2000
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces1396.html

The edge is the same as on most of the English pound coins
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces5630.html

And the obverse is from a 1998 Jersey pound coin
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces4692.html

Wow, that one is definitely a mix-match of a coin!

Of the 4 new fakes I've just come across, 3 are definite, no question fakes. Wrong design for the year, wrong edge inscription, no alignment on the 2 sides, etc.

One of the fakes, however, I might have to put pictures up later for a second opinion. It's the correct year and correct bridge, it lines up nicely when spinning coin through medal alignment and it has the "pathway/criss-cross" design on the edge, it just looks....dodgy (for want of a better word). Almost blurry I'd say.

Anyway, can't take a picture now, my mobile phone is too old. Will take one tonight using my 11yr old daughters much newer phone :)