I have been collecting coins since 6 months now, but I am still not having a definite source of collecting coins. And I am seeing many ancient coins being auction in ebay.in. But after posting the images of the coins in numista, I found that according to the replies the coins are fake. What the hell!!!! I am struggling in this case.
Someone help me..........
13 years old strange boy here,
long way to go......!!!
Just learn to look at the original and the fake, with time you will spot most fakes is a second just by eyesight.
Second, For other fakes you will learn about which coins to look at more thorougly as you will know the most faked coins.
Third, you will learn that when an offer sounds like the bargain of a century, well quadruple check. (Theres a lot of information to be found on fakes on the internet).
Fourth, if you have a doubt I advise you just let it be and don't touch it.
I had some more points, but its early here in Japan anyhow for coins as they say, comes time comes wisdom.
If you like coins, medals and tokens with ship motives follow my new instagram account with regular updates @numisnautiker
From time to time I sell some coins on Ebay make sure to follow me @apuking on Ebay.
My first advice would be, don't buy anything expensive or rare until you get to know more about coins. That Mysore 2 paisa is a very well known fake but there are others which can be really hard to detect. Start will low value coins, buy some good reference books and best of luck !!
“A man without a hobby is only half alive.”
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
It can be hard to distinguish real from fake, and sometimes it may require specialist knowledge and special equipment. Nonetheless, there are a few situations which should raise your level of suspicion:
Technically:
Coins made from the wrong material (generally silver coins which aren't)
Coins which look as if they were not produced in the right way (details too high, details too flat)
Coins which look differently from a catalogued item.
Coins where the lower lying details are filled up with metal, not sharp, not deep enough (on circulation coins higher surfaces wear off, lower surfaces do not fill up)
Coins with uneven wear, like only one or two letters totally worn off, but the rest in VF grade, or grade F surfaces, but XF edge (this happens frequently with fakes).
Procedurally (I add 'collectible' to distinguish it from the cheap stuff, < USD 2, which is faked considerably less frequently):
Collectible coins offered or obtained for a bargain price
Collectible coins obtained from an unknown source (a friend's uncle who passed away and would like you to have the coins, for free)
Collectible antique (<1800AD) without certificate of authenticity.
Collectible coins offered in or obtained from Asia
Collectible coins offered on or obtained from the Internet from sellers without decent feed back
The best way of learning is to look at real coins and confirmed fakes. It may not make you an expert, but it will save you from the most obvious pitfalls.
I have same problem, because i have not seen many fakes (that i know of), i do know i am extremely bad at spotting them.
However, that is also a reason why i have not spent money on rare or ancient coins. Because i know that i have no idea, what to look out for. And until i have time to sit down and learn, i am not going to buy them either.
Do you frequently visit certain coin shops? If not then start now, if there is any nearby at all.
My best place to gather info about fakes is exactly there. They often buy large amount of coins and in them happens to be some fakes. As a regular customer i had no problem asking them to show me some fakes and a guy there often keeps them at a side now to show me next time i am in and to explain me how he knows it is fake. That is the BEST way to learn, so if you have local coinguys, make friends with them. It is also in their interest, because you keep going back, knowing you can trust purchases and info you get, so they get a repeat customer.
Kartway is so right, i have some fakes. Learn and learn. It going to get very bad . If there is money in it they will fake it. Someone here fake US 20 dollar gold coins. The only way they find out about them is he or she made to many of them. Alot showing up at the graders and they found it to have a very small Greek lettler on the back. It was even made with gold, everything was there. Learn all you can.
yours daryl
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