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While we're on the topic of scales...

WeissWeiss Posts: 9,941 ✭✭✭✭✭
I stopped by the B&M today at lunch. He was looking over a small collection for someone, so I sat in the corner to wait until he concluded his bidness.

Half-way through looking over what looked like silver dollars he says: Wait. Something's not right.

Guy had a stack of 1-oz silver rounds in 2x2s. My dealer popped one open and put it on his scale.

"Yeah, not even close. These are counterfeit."

The customer was shocked. He paid $8 each for them. Six years ago, so he claimed.

I'm not 100% convinced he was the victim. He might have been trying to pull one over on my dealer.

Regardless, I offered him $5 for one just so I'd have one for future reference, which he gladly accepted.

I think most of us here would have known it was bad immediately. The size is right, but the look is off--the tone, the shine, even the fact that it has the look of a heavily circulated coin, something that is almost unheard of in a .999 round.

It did ring like silver when dropped. But in-hand you could tell the weight wasn't right--which might have been the reason they were in individual 2x2s.

But to the uninitiated...

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We are like children who look at print and see a serpent in the last letter but one, and a sword in the last.
--Severian the Lame

Comments

  • And the liberty is pretty ugly too!

    I have no counterfeits (as far as I know) but I think it's good to have some as reference and/or memento.
  • mkman123mkman123 Posts: 6,849 ✭✭✭✭
    thanks for sharing this. If it was a nice and shiny round, it definitely could pass but that circulated look makes you think otherwise!
    Be careful everyone! With the price of silver up this high, I am sure more and more fakes will pop up
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  • TWQGTWQG Posts: 3,145 ✭✭
    Rounds with that much wear just look wrong.
    Thanks for the heads up.
  • storm888storm888 Posts: 11,701 ✭✭✭

    Chinese product.
    Folks Who Bite Get Bitten. Folks Who Don't Bite Get Eaten.
  • OPAOPA Posts: 17,119 ✭✭✭✭✭
    This is what the real ones look like

    image

    image
    "Bongo drive 1984 Lincoln that looks like old coin dug from ground."
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