Counterfeit / Altered 1942/1 Merc on eBay
commoncents05
Posts: 10,096 ✭✭✭
commoncents05
Posts: 10,096 ✭✭✭
commoncents05
Posts: 10,096 ✭✭✭
Comments
bob
That's a big ole 2, they must have got it off a nickel.........................
I encourage others to do likewise.
<< <i>Reported.
I encourage others to do likewise. >>
Nice work, bidding has ended.
<< <i>
<< <i>Reported.
I encourage others to do likewise. >>
Nice work, bidding has ended. >>
The seller (not Ebay) ended the listing. I suspect that it was due to the message he received from me (and presumably others). He wrote back and sounded like a good guy who had made an innocent mistake.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
Even funnier, he has plenty more raw key dates for sale...
<< <i>Was it a real coin with an altered date or a totally fabricated counterfeit. In any case, this coin's date was nothing like the date on a real coin. >>
That is an old alteration, probably made in the 1960's or 70's. They took a genuine coin and stuck a cast 2 over the 1. Notice that they even notched the lower right corner of the 4!
We used to see stuff like this at ANACS back in the 70's. It is the type of crude work that ANACS drove out of the market by educating people what real coins looked like. Unfortunately, many old fakes still lie buried in old collections that heve been there for decades. Give the seller the benefit of the doubt for being honestly ignorant.
TD
My concern comes in when someone ASSERTS a coin is genuine. In the words of the seller:
"YES it is genuine."
Well, the seller used this phrase in the other few auctions currently running for key dates.
So, at a minumum, the seller was a little careless by running an auction using a template script. In this case, as a matter of practice, the seller simply uttered their guarantee of genuine, rather than taking the time and due dilligence to assure the coin was genuine.
AFAICT The seller did not exhibit ANY care in practice:
- Look at the quite easy diagnostic for this key date (btw, one that has historically been fudged/counterfeited)
- Take a carelful look at the actual coin in question, and notice a cheap hack job
- Spend the lousy 20 bucks to get some plastic guarantee for a coin that wholesales in the hundreds of dollars
Giving the benefit of the doubt, the seller will now alter his practice to ensure against similar mistakes, no?
Otherwise, carrying on the status quo could be construed "oops, just got caught this time. Maybe better luck on the next 25'.
Not saying that is the case, but the seller's current practice DOES leave room for doubt the next time IMO.
My comments here are intended to question - "What are the minimum standards of practice to proffer a guarantee a coin is genuine" rather than bash any particular seller who was probably just a little careless.
A key point of concern for more than one buyer given this age of rampant counterfeited coins...