ebay has banned sale of 18th cent. counterfeits

coachleonard

This topic must have come before recently-- but I was just informed by ebay that an 18th century British or American made forgery has been pulled in keeping with their new policy on not allowing fakes and reproductions to be sold! Can ebay now make NO distinction between 18th century circulating counterfeits and modern replicas of coins created strictly for sale?? Ebay has basically banned half or more than half of the copper coins that actually circulated in the Thirteen Colonies!

earlwbollinger

To me it looks like 50% of these types of coins being sold were fakes or counterfeits anyway.
So I don't really consider it a problem.

The huge number of fake 1803 1804 dollars, halves and such is astounding.
The TRADE DOLLARS, I just don't see any raw trade dollars as being real on EBAY.
You could build an entire series or collection of fake trade dollars including fantasy pieces too.

I do not have a problem with anyone wanting to sell fakes if they have prominently stated that such is a
copy, replica, fake or counterfeit novelty item. But when they try to imply or purport that such a thing is real
I am against that.

Personally, I feel EBAY should police this a lot more and pull a lot more fake auctions, NARU sellers, etc.
There are just too many sellers trying to rip off buyers.

kryptonitecomics

Does this include those 1780 Maria Theresa Thalers???


I got sucked into one of those recently and had no idea it was a modern restrike since it was not labeled as such on the auction

coachleonard

i would certainly agree on the fake trade dollars and fake bust dollars and such-- the difference is, you
have dishonest sellers who want to sell these fakes as "genuine." Those who sell 18th century forgeries
of british coppers and spanish silver (particulary brass counterfeits) WANT the buyers to know these are counterfeits-- in fact, that's a SELLING point. So i agree with the ebay's new policy up to a point... but in regards to old CIRCULATING counterfeits -- and in this case, I and numerous other sellers are all too HAPPY to point out they are "counterfeit-- the new ebay policy is ridiculous.

rhound1977

But I do have contemporary counterfits, they are collectable, and as long as properly advertised, I see no harm.

Askari

I'm with y'all. I'm glad eBay is doing something, but their ignorance of the field means they use an anvil where a hammer would suffice.

Conder101

Probably 20% of the Conder tokens cataloged in Dalton & Hamer are contemporary counterfeits! They are cataloged and collected right along with the genuine issues.

This also means Machins Mills pieces can't be listed, and possibly and many as half of the varieties of US Colonial varieties can't be listed. they were all contemporary counterfeits.

The problem is, how do you write a rule that allows actively collected counterfeits while it forbids counterfiets intended to cheat collectors.

1jester

One of the biggest problems with trying to police the "no counterfeits" rule is that I can hardly imagine anyone advertising their counterfeit as a counterfeit, if their goal is to cheat people. Hence, the rule won't have its intended effect.

coachleonard

1jester-- excellent point!

danglen

<< <i> Does this include those 1780 Maria Theresa Thalers??? I got sucked into one of those recently and had no idea it was a modern restrike since it was not labeled as such on the auction >>



As the most circulated trade coinage in history, most collectors would know that the coin was a restrike (although certainly not a counterfeit). The M.T. Thaler has been struck at over twenty different mints since it was originally issued. Certainly a beautiful piece. Although I agree that the coin should be listed as a restrike in the auction description, I certainly wouldn't put it in the same category as a counterfeit.