# of Counterfeits submitted in 30 days

burfle23

I looked up PCGS' current turnaround times and found these stats for a 30-day period.

I was surprised by the number of counterfeits (Code 90) seen in that period of time. I suppose you could look at it several ways!

One is it is a very low % to the total submitted.

But another possibly being a number of new Collectors being disappointed with their 1st submissions, and/or the number of bad pieces available for sale in various internet selling venues each month...

ricko

Interesting statistics. The amount of cleaned coins submitted certainly indicates a need for training in that area. Cheers, RickO

Walkerguy21D

Interesting stat, and thanks for posting.

But I’m really more puzzled by the low number of questionable color coins that were flagged, given that toning is all the rage right now and alleged “doctored” pieces abound.

JeffMTampa

That's about 1 out of every 200 coins submitted- I'm quite surprised it's that high. my guess is around half the coins submitted are modern- likely not counterfeited.

Aren't most submitters able to ferret out the fakes? I realize there are some very deceptive counterfeits out there, but that many? Or are there a lot of obvious fakes being submitted?

291fifth

This is the age of the "internet only" collector. Many of them are just what the sellers of counterfeit and cleaned coins want ... newbies who think they are getting a "good deal".

Just think of how much money is being scammed from these new collectors. I wonder how many of them drop out when they find out they have been taken.

LanceNewmanOCC

@burfle23 said:

.
looking pretty good this month by this stat.

BuffaloIronTail

@ricko said:
Interesting statistics. The amount of cleaned coins submitted certainly indicates a need for training in that area. Cheers, RickO

You are correct.

I prefer to use a toothbrush to make mine more shiny.

Pete

PerryHall

I wonder how many of those counterfeits later wind up on eBay.

Kliao

Interesting stats. Never seen this before. A look at the stats also shows environmental damage at a pretty big number.
https://www.pcgs.com/statistics

burfle23

WOW, went up...

LanceNewmanOCC

@PerryHall said:
I wonder how many of those counterfeits later wind up on eBay.

.
i've only received one coin back from pcgs as questionable authenticity. i not only listed it on ebay, i sold it there too!

davewesen

@ricko said:
Interesting statistics. The amount of cleaned coins submitted certainly indicates a need for training in that area. Cheers, RickO

I am sure some 'rare' coins have been submitted that the submitter already knew were cleaned.

291fifth

@BuffaloIronTail said:

@ricko said:
Interesting statistics. The amount of cleaned coins submitted certainly indicates a need for training in that area. Cheers, RickO

You are correct.

I prefer to use a toothbrush to make mine more shiny.

Pete

Ink erasers work even better!

burfle23

It would be interesting to understand the "level" of deceptiveness the submitted counterfeits were!

jmlanzaf

@LanceNewmanOCC said:

@PerryHall said:
I wonder how many of those counterfeits later wind up on eBay.

.
i've only received one coin back from pcgs as questionable authenticity. i not only listed it on ebay, i sold it there too!

Odd confession.

LanceNewmanOCC

@jmlanzaf said:
Odd confession.

.
they said it was, i didn't agree and neither did the buyer. it was a 4 figure coin.

edited to add. oh happy day. found it in my archives.

PerryHall

@LanceNewmanOCC said:

@jmlanzaf said:
Odd confession.

.
they said it was, i didn't agree and neither did the buyer. it was a 4 figure coin.

edited to add. oh happy day. found it in my archives.

Looks good to me. Did you ask PCGS why they refused to authenticate your coin?

burfle23

This one came back "unverifiable" from a friend; I resubmitted it with attribution images and it was slabbed- just did it as a point...

PerryHall

@burfle23 Did you have to pay twice before they got it right?

Stingray63

I would have thought those numbers would have been much higher.
For just the cleaned coins that's basically between 3.25% -3.50%.

LanceNewmanOCC

@PerryHall said:
Looks good to me. Did you ask PCGS why they refused to authenticate your coin?

.
nah. i enjoy selling raw coins as much as certified, no matter the value, although the more value, the more i do prefer to have them slabbed, at the very least, for their protection but it isn't required in my book. it was part of a really nice order so i just took the lump and moved on and sold it shortly after i got the order back. i figured attribution would have served it better but didn't want to tie up the whole order over this coin.

ms71

Around half a percent. I would expect it to increase given the improved quality the counterfeiters are turning out.

badger

What denomination or type were the most common of the counterfeits?

jmlanzaf

@Stingray63 said:
I would have thought those numbers would have been much higher.
For just the cleaned coins that's basically between 3.25% -3.50%.

There's a lot of moderns in there. Some months, they may do 75+% moderns if the Mint just released something.

MarkW63

@burfle23 said:
I looked up PCGS' current turnaround times and found these stats for a 30-day period.

I was surprised by the number of counterfeits (Code 90) seen in that period of time. I suppose you could look at it several ways!

One is it is a very low % to the total submitted.

But another possibly being a number of new Collectors being disappointed with their 1st submissions, and/or the number of bad pieces available for sale in various internet selling venues each month...

Some people seems to have an obsession with cleaning Lincoln's
Thanks for posting