These PCGS Certified coins are fake; Fake Ecuador coins listed in Krause and Schön catalogs;

migueldelrio · October 31, 2018 1:39PM

These coins from Ecuador are fantasy coins:

Cert# 35537973 2009 Sucre Independence Ag 200th Anniversary, DC PRDC (KM# 116, Schön# 115)
Cert# 35537974 2010 Sucre Massacre of the Heroes 200th Anniversary, DC PRDC (KM# 117, Schön# 116)
Cert# 35537975 2011 Sucre Manuela Saenz Ag, DC PRDC (Schön# 117)
Cert# 35537976 2011 Sucre Manuela Saenz Ag, DC PRDC (Schön# 117)
Cert# 35537977 2012 Sucre Manuela Canizares Ag, DC PRDC (Schön# 119)
Cert# 35537990 2012 Sucre Manuela Canizares Ag, DC PRDC (Schön# 119)

None of these coins come with the required endorsements by the Central Bank of Ecuador on their certificate of authenticity:
"Beautiful coin of fantasy with great design. The coin comes accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by the issuing house, in the that the characteristics of the piece are guaranteed. All the formalism and quality that accompany this creation can confuse the collector making him believe that if it is an official currency; it is important to reiterate that only the coins produced with the endorsement of the Central Bank of Ecuador may be considered official." - Excerpt translated from page 116 of Numismática ecuatoriana Evolución y coleccionismo de nuestra moneda by Ramiro Reyes. (emphasis added) See http://www.patrimonio.quito.gob.ec/images/libros/2013/Numismatica.pdf

This is an example of an authenticate certificate with the required endorsements and the corresponding coin:

This is an example of a fantasy certificate with its PCGS graded slab:

These are the fantasy certificates of authenticity for the 2010 Sucre Massacre of the Heroes 200th Anniversary and the 2012 Sucre Manuela Canizares (Ag):

These are the corresponding PCGS slabs for these fantasy coins:

The book by Ramiro Reyes referrers to the 2009 Sucre Independence Ag 200th Anniversary coin specifically:

Note that this book is not intended as a comprehensive list of exonumia, according to the author. See Libro "Numismática ecuatoriana–Evolución y coleccionismo de nuestra moneda" de Ramiro Reyes for the author's own description.

The Museo Numismatico of the Banco Central del Ecuador provides this complete list of authorized commemorative coins, MONEDAS CONMEMORATIVAS BCE.pdf

The four fantasy coins do not appear in the list of authorized commemoratives, so the test proposed by Ramiro Reyes holds true for all four of these coins.

In conclusion, anomalies in world coin specifications stem from the varying contributors upon which the Krause and Schön world catalogs depend.