Buyer Beware: Counterfit 1965/66 Korea Trail Coins being sold on Ebay

dgooch

I purchased a 1965 Pattern 10 Won Coin on Ebay for over $600 (https://www.ebay.com/itm/197520999412). Submitted it to PCGS for grading and it was returned as counterfeit. I origionally gave the seller the benifit of the doubt that he did not know it was a forgery but he has refused to accept the return claiming that PCGS and NGC no longer grade Korea trial coins. I replied that PCGS would have returned it with a "No Service" designation, not a "counterfeit" designation but the seller is now ignoring. Ebay will not assist because my return request was outside of the 30 day guarantee window. Will report the seller to Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) and try to do a chargeback on my credit card. PCGS has graded 28 of these coins so far. It is not known how many of the trial coins were produced but the foremost authority (Mark Lovmo) has suggested that possibly only 1 version was minted for each size/composition. Each coin has the metal content and diameter stamped on the reverse field. PCGS also has had a host of counterfeit 1959 10 Won coins in the past. I have purchased hundreds of raw world coins on Eaby and have been careful to research the seller and the item. I guess i should be happy this has so far only happened once.