COINage June 2019

Literally hundreds of thousands of counterfeit coins are coming into the United States from overseas, most of them reportedly manufactured with impunity in China. Some are intercepted by law enforcement agencies, but enough are reaching the marketplace that a coalition of dealers and collectors has ramped up the fight against fakes. Alarmingly, the counterfeiters are not just striking bogus coins; they’re making and shipping fake ingots and fake third-party grading service encapsulation holders. The Anti-Counterfeiting Educational Foundation, a nonprofit corporation that oversees the Anti-Counterfeiting Task Force, is on the front lines vigorously combating the problems. Award-winning former numismatic editor Beth Deisher is ACEF Director of Anti-Counterfeiting and coordinates more than 90 volunteer experts who assist law enforcement agencies. The Task Force has successfully worked with Homeland Security and the Customs…

In the past year, I have reviewed several customers’ coin collections and sadly detected one or more counterfeit coins. In one instance, the majority of one person’s collection consisted of counterfeit proof Buffalo one-ounce gold coins, with all coins appearing in what looked like genuine NGC holders. The holders themselves were fraudulent. Many of these counterfeits seem to have been “Made in China.” Other collectors I helped had counterfeit American Eagle gold coins, as well as counterfeit Morgan, Peace, and Trade dollars. Some counterfeit Trade dollars were easily spotted, in that they used dates when no Trade dollars were minted. In other cases, the counterfeit Morgan and Peace dollars were made of nickel, copper, and zinc and rang with too high a pitch compared to a real silver dollar when…

Since the dawn of time, people have tried to keep items of value protected from the elements and, thereby, remaining in pristine condition. This, of course, is a difficult matter, as it is impossible to know if succeeding generations will even care about what was important in an earlier time. Coins were first struck in Lydia, a small country on the Aegean Sea, about 600 B.C., and there is little doubt that collecting arose soon afterwards. How would coins have been kept in those days? The most valuable would have been stored in linen or some other type of cloth, but the majority would simply have been placed in a small leather bag. The bag would have been kept in a safe place or perhaps buried in a jar in…

A lot has changed in the hobby of coin collecting over the past several decades, including how we store coins. We’ve come a long way over the last century. In the 1920s, most coin collectors were still storing their coins in small paper envelopes, while wealthier collectors organized their coins in beautiful coin cabinets. These ornate wooden coin cabinets were, for their time, among the most protective and organized methods of storing coins. Even today, some collectors still prefer storing their coins in cabinets, at least for temporary display purposes in special private or public exhibitions. Over the past 10 decades, we’ve learned a lot about preserving coins. One of the many things we’ve discovered is that coin cabinets – as beautiful as they are – do not represent the…

On April 24th, in the year 1184 B.C., when the city of Troy fell to Greek invaders, the Trojans hauled the “gift” left by the Greeks, the great wooden horse, into the walls of Troy. Another April 24th, this one in the year 2017, is also the anniversary of the last day that the Bitcoin/gold ratio was under one, a great gift to hard money investors that can overcome a decade of indoctrination against Bitcoin. One way to quantify the relationship between gold and Bitcoin is to compare the ratio of Bitcoin to gold. The recent crash in the BTC/XAU (Bitcoin/Gold) index from 14 to just over three may represent a similar buying opportunity; I note bullish technical divergences in this ratio, and the overall hysterically bearish sentiments towards Bitcoin…

Protection and preservation are the common allies of collectors and investors alike, and deterioration and damage are the common enemies. So be forewarned: You’ll never achieve your objectives, whether you are a collector or investor, unless you take care of your coins. A collector once came to me with a group of coins that once had been – and still should have been – truly incredible. The group contained a Liberty Seated half dollar with spectacular cameo contrast and beautiful toning, several highly desirable and scarce-date Indian cents, and a high-grade, scarce-date Barber dime. All of the coins were well preserved – or at least the client thought they were, since all had been stored in nice, soft vinyl flips. The trouble was, those flips were made of PVC –…