Determining if a Perth Mint coin is real

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gashmios
gashmios Posts: 504 ✭✭✭
in World & Ancient Coins Forum

Years ago I brought a Perth Mint Deadly and Dangerous Blue Ringed Octopus directly from the Mint. It was one of many coins that was stolen. It was one of my favorite commems I'd purchased. I recently saw it on ebay for a decent price and I brought one but I am suspecting it is fake. The wooden box it came in is not exactly like the first one and I'm thinking it is not right. For one thing, the plastic coin holder is blued in the whole, and it won't come loose. I can take the top placic cover off and remove the coin, but it the entire coin holder will not come out. I destroyed the rosewood box trying to get it out.

I'm not certain of the certificate of authenticity it came with either. I don't think it was like the original.

Any thoughts on authenticating it short of shipping it to PCS for slabbing?

The original one is here
http://www.mrbrklyn.com/octopus.html

So many immigrant groups have swept through our town that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998

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  • gashmios
    gashmios Posts: 504 ✭✭✭
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    So many immigrant groups have swept through our town that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998
  • gashmios
    gashmios Posts: 504 ✭✭✭
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    I weighede this coin on my pharmacuetical scale and it weighted 31.22 g which is kind of weird. According to Krause it should weight 37 grams, which would be about 6 grams of paint? Over coins of the same group (the Poisonous and Dangerous Tuvia coins) are in the Krause as 31.07 grams...

    So many immigrant groups have swept through our town that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998
  • gashmios
    gashmios Posts: 504 ✭✭✭
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    M-76
    2008
    Dollar

    2008
    Proof

    Composition: Silver

    Weight: 37.108 g

    Obverse: Head right

    Reverse: Multicolor Australian Lesser Blue-ringed Octopus

    So many immigrant groups have swept through our town that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998
  • Sapyx
    Sapyx Posts: 2,616 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    I'd assume the "37" is a typo. It should have the same specifications as the others in the series.

    Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.
    Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations"

    Apparently I have been awarded the DPOTD twice. B)
  • gashmios
    gashmios Posts: 504 ✭✭✭
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    so you thing a 31.22 weight is rational for this coin?

    So many immigrant groups have swept through our town that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998
  • horseyride
    horseyride Posts: 232 ✭✭✭
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    Just ask yourself, of all the coins in the world, why would you counterfeit this one, with paint, etc, that seemingly has no great value over scrap?

  • gashmios
    gashmios Posts: 504 ✭✭✭
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    silver is 77 dollars an ounce right this moment, so this coin routinely goes over 3 times scrap. But in addition, maybe is it not silver? This happened to be a fairly popular issue from the Perth Mint. For a long time it has been routinely well over $300 .

    I know that Perth Mint coins have been considered cheap junk for many serious collectors, but the Blue Ringed Octopus has been very population among certain collectors for a long time, and hard to find, more so than most of their other mintage.

    So many immigrant groups have swept through our town that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998

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