Several bad gold eagles in bad slabs walk into a coin shop…

burfle23

Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke; a friend posted in one of my FB Groups that an individual bought these “4 years ago off eBay and was wanting to take a profit off rise on gold prices”.

Unfortunately they are counterfeits in fake slabs.

NGC is quick to update their on-line certs to indicate “possible counterfeit holders” when reported, and maybe that will help the next buyer of some of these in the future (if they take the extra step and look them up…).

Images include the group of “coins" and an example comparing the bad with the good and cert update.

I couldn’t read the 1st one due to the glare so my friend sent another image along with one additional example.

Some very obvious differences, we did note one odd difference in one versus the other in the circled feature; left one looks like a CN character...

Best, Jack.

ifthevamzarockin

With the flood of these fakes from overseas it's surprising we don't hear more of these stories.
It's sad to think how many of these will be on the market 10 years from now.

cheezhed

Side by side there are many differences in the real vs fake.

Ebeneezer

The closeup image, bottom left with a red circle, that's Chinese for "thanks sucker!". They are most likely brass. Rules to follow buying sight unseen. First, make sure the seller offers a return. Second, verify the number and determine if it is already owned. Third, inspect the slab edges and seal for signs of tampering when it arrives. I can clearly see the reseal job on a few of them (those wide haze spots to the left and right).

burfle23

@Ebeneezer said:
The closeup image, bottom left with a red circle, that's Chinese for "thanks sucker!". They are most likely brass. Rules to follow buying sight unseen. First, make sure the seller offers a return. Second, verify the number and determine if it is already owned. Third, inspect the slab edges and seal for signs of tampering when it arrives. I can clearly see the reseal job on a few of them (those wide haze spots to the left and right).

Not sure what you are referring to; are you saying the counterfeit ones show how they were sealed is visually different from genuine ones?

jmlanzaf

@ifthevamzarockin said:
With the flood of these fakes from overseas it's surprising we don't hear more of these stories.
It's sad to think how many of these will be on the market 10 years from now.

There are a lot of these stories. Every dealer i know has had them walk into their shop on more than one occasion.

I even know one pawn shop SOB who was buying fakes and mixing them in with his good coins to boost profits. He got caught a couple times but never arrested because he claimed ignorance.

One time, he took a bunch of coins on vacation with him to Hawaii and tried to sell the lot (mostly good with a few fakes mixed in) to sell to pay for his vacation. He almost did get arrested that time because the dealer he tried to rip off insisted on calling the cops. But, again, he managed to escape by playing ignorance. If anyone tried hard enough they could probably find his aliexpress account. But you'd have to know to look and what police department is going to devote person- hours to such a fishing expedition.

After a couple close calls, he was eventually scared straight. But I don't know how many fakes he managed to pass in the meantime.

ifthevamzarockin

@jmlanzaf said:

@ifthevamzarockin said:
With the flood of these fakes from overseas it's surprising we don't hear more of these stories.
It's sad to think how many of these will be on the market 10 years from now.

There are a lot of these stories. Every dealer i know has had them walk into their shop on more than one occasion.

I even know one pawn shop SOB who was buying fakes and mixing them in with his good coins to boost profits. He got caught a couple times but never arrested because he claimed ignorance.

One time, he took a bunch of coins on vacation with him to Hawaii and tried to sell the lot (mostly good with a few fakes mixed in) to sell to pay for his vacation. He almost did get arrested that time because the dealer he tried to rip off insisted on calling the cops. But, again, he managed to escape by playing ignorance. If anyone tried hard enough they could probably find his aliexpress account. But you'd have to know to look and what police department is going to devote person- hours to such a fishing expedition.

After a couple close calls, he was eventually scared straight. But I don't know how many fakes he managed to pass in the meantime.

I'm glad the coin dealer insisted on calling the cops. If I found a pawn shop owner or a coin dealer doing this I would go out of my way to ruin their reputation and help in any way to put them out of business. I had a local coin shop try to swap out a coin on me, I told anyone who would listen and within about a year they were out of business.

MsMorrisine

@Ebeneezer said:
Third, inspect the slab edges and seal for signs of tampering when it arrives. I can clearly see the reseal job on a few of them (those wide haze spots to the left and right).

those are counterfeit plastic holders with counterfeit label holding counterfeit gold

there's no re-seal on these. these types are bought the same way you'd buy the genuine ones: one sealed unit