Fakes and Replicas

I wonder if anyone would consider there is any worth in replicas.

obviously no one wants fakes especially if marketed as the originals.

i bought knowingly a set of red book Russian bi metallic animals clearly marked as replicas . They are cute little coins and nice to look at.

or am I deluded .

It's all a matter of what you like. I bought two Chinese fakes in Toronto several years ago: a Morgan and a piastre de commerce. My main interest was in the educational value since I can show people what is wrong with them. They were only $3 each. Otherwise, I would not personally buy any replicas or fakes.

I have a friend who, for his birthday, asked his girlfriend for a series of so-called¹ "brothel tokens" replicas. This is easy to find online, and they are sold as replicas. Again, this is not my thing.

Some people don't like trade tokens because they are not coins, but they collect non-circulating collectors' coins. Well, for me, those collectors' issues are difficult to differentiate from medals. Even if they are technically legal tender, they are sold at a much higher price than their face value, and often they are encased, so that it is clear they are not intended for circulation. Trade tokens, on the other hand, were actually used as currency, especially in periods when the state was not issuing any small change. Those trade tokens have a real numismatic value ─and historical value─ that is much greater, in my view, than any collectors' issues.

The Royal Canadian Mint is, in my humble opinion, one of the world's worst when it comes to issuing all kinds of numismatically worthless commemorative issues: 10 cents made of silver or gold, 3-dollar coins, etc., etc. And they are so much in a hurry to produce their money-grabbing "special" issues that in 1998 they commemorated the 90th (!!) anniversary of the opening of the Canadian Mint in Ottawa in 1908 instead of waiting for the 100th. To the best of my knowledge, they did nothing in 2008 for the centenary. This is ludicrous.

But others are welcome to disagree. They like the aesthetic value of the high quality engraving and mint state of collectors' issues. Though I can see their point, I much prefer "real" coins with honest wear. As a matter of fact, I like well circulated French and English coins because that's the kind of coins our ancestors used here in North America.

Those are my views. If others like replicas or collectors issues, so be it. This is a hobby and it should be enjoyable. If you become too perfectionist, or collect according to what you're supposed to like and collect, then it's not a hobby any longer.

____________________
¹I say "so-called" because they actually are not brothel tokens.

Quote: "Camerinvs"​It's all a matter of what you like. I bought two Chinese fakes in Toronto several years ago: a Morgan and a piastre de commerce. My main interest was in the educational value since I can show people what is wrong with them. They were only $3 each. Otherwise, I would not personally buy any replicas or fakes.
​
​I have a friend who, for his birthday, asked his girlfriend for a series of so-called¹ "brothel tokens" replicas. This is easy to find online, and they are sold as replicas. Again, this is not my thing.
​
​Some people don't like trade tokens because they are not coins, but they collect non-circulating collectors' coins. Well, for me, those collectors' issues are difficult to differentiate from medals. Even if they are technically legal tender, they are sold at a much higher price than their face value, and often they are encased, so that it is clear they are not intended for circulation. Trade tokens, on the other hand, were actually used as currency, especially in periods when the state was not issuing any small change. Those trade tokens have a real numismatic value ─and historical value─ that is much greater, in my view, than any collectors' issues.
​
​The Royal Canadian Mint is, in my humble opinion, one of the world's worst when it comes to issuing all kinds of numismatically worthless commemorative issues: 10 cents made of silver or gold, 3-dollar coins, etc., etc. And they are so much in a hurry to produce their money-grabbing "special" issues that in 1998 they commemorated the 90th (!!) anniversary of the opening of the Canadian Mint in Ottawa in 1908 instead of waiting for the 100th. To the best of my knowledge, they did nothing in 2008 for the centenary. This is ludicrous.
​
​But others are welcome to disagree. They like the aesthetic value of the high quality engraving and mint state of collectors' issues. Though I can see their point, I much prefer "real" coins with honest wear. As a matter of fact, I like well circulated French and English coins because that's the kind of coins our ancestors used here in North America.
​
​Those are my views. If others like replicas or collectors issues, so be it. This is a hobby and it should be enjoyable. If you become too perfectionist, or collect according to what you're supposed to like and collect, then it's not a hobby any longer.
​
​____________________
​¹I say "so-called" because they actually are not brothel tokens.

​i dislike too All royal mints, Niue, Canada, Australia, and sometimes New Zealand make terrible looking or useless commemorative currency only for collection, specially Niue, those coins are just nasty

I agree with comments made . You can take yourself (and your hobby too seriously) so I like my little replicas and well appreciate how much it would have cost to buy the originals.

On the other topic , I like Isle of Man Crowns but even I accept that they issue commemorative coins at the drop of hat . This was brought home to me when I noticed that coins from USA was 500 plus whereas IOM had 800 plus and how much is America bigger than the IOM.(Someone here will know

The Isle of Man had a population of 84,497 in 2011 according to the IOM Wikipedia page. New York City alone had an estimated population of 8,550,405 in 2015 according to the NYC Wikipedia page. That's almost exactly 100 times more than the Isle of Man.

Wow

This IOM "Father Christmas" coin is just a money grab so far as I am concerned. It has close to zero numismatic value and fully zero historical value.

Quote: "Camerinvs"​This IOM "Father Christmas" coin is just a money grab so far as I am concerned. It has close to zero numismatic value and fully zero historical value.

​I agree but ironically Christmas 50 ps from there and Gibraltar are sought by collectors the world over and cost a fortune on eBay.

Quote: "iknw07554"​

Quote: "Camerinvs"​This IOM "Father Christmas" coin is just a money grab so far as I am concerned. It has close to zero numismatic value and fully zero historical value.

​​I agree but ironically Christmas 50 ps from there and Gibraltar are sought by collectors the world over and cost a fortune on eBay.

​Exactly ─ and why? Because those are not Isle-of-Man and Gibraltar themed coins, but coins themed to appeal to worldwide collectors. Many of those who buy such things are not coin collectors at all but collectors of Santa Claus memorabilia. Their Santa coin ends up beside porcelain (or even plastic) Santas on their display tables.

Likewise the Gulf states have issued coins (and stamps) on Kennedy and the American space programme to appeal mostly to American collectors. Money grab big time.

[i]You are right but we are fighting a losing battle .

my earlier thread last para got a bit cut off but I was moaning about a BeeGee coin till my wife whose a big fan caught me.

A Bee Gees coin? What has the world come up to?



It's exactly everything I said: legal tender, but in a capsule, obviously more expensive than a crown, and nothing to do with the Isle of Man so far as I know...

I will use the opportunity to note: I am not a Bee Gees fan and have never been one, despite my username (which comes from a completely unrelated origin).
In fact I'm not sure I've ever heard of Bee Gees before seeing a comment that attributed my username to me possibly being a their fan (a few years ago on a different numismatic site).

That said... I agree - while it's silly to make coins for subjects that have absolutely nothing to do with your country, it is certainly true that it's usually those coins that end up more popular. (Then again, Belarus found quite a few topics for their commemoratives without actually straying much from "related to the country".)

I know it's a tragedy

Now I know that "January First of May" is Bee Gees related, which means that I already know too much.

I'm making a wild guess that there's also an ABBA or a Liberace coin out there. I hope not, but it seems likely. I'm not even going to google it ...

I assumed (perhaps wrongly) therefore that people got my 'Tragedy' joke from the BeeGees then Steps.Sad I know Ha

Hiya,

Did a search for you - couldn't find any for Liberace or Abba (aah) but I did find this: wasn't I lucky lucky lucky

Wa

Google is a wonderful thing - even if it makes people look stupid - me in this case.

All the Gibb brothers making up the BeeGees were born (wait for it) yep The Isle of Man.

ah well done up like a kipper

Ah! So, I am ─yet again─ learning way too much about the Bee Gees... But my statement stands that such issues have little numismatic value.

I still don't get the "tragedy" joke ─ I suppose a title of one of their songs or albums... If so, good one.

Kylie? Obviously she's not a First Woman President or a Grand Chess Master, but I don't know who she is. A nice find, though, and I'm relieved Liberace and Abba have not (yet) been struck in proof silver en encapsulated.

But wait, what were they smoking in Bénin when they came up with this?

https://firstcoincompany.com/S/benin-cannabis-sativa-shape-series-famous-plants-marijuana-scented-copper-nickel-silver-plated-coin-colored-2011-proof

Again, not my thing, but others may very much like such items... Back to my statement that you should collect what you like.

I blame the wife, who is a BeeGees fan. Tragedy is indeed one of their hits and a cover of it made number 1 .Still back to the coins- I do collect what I like . I am at the moment I'm collecting coins featuring WW2 aircraft from the Marshall Islands so I'm guilty too cos as far as know they are not specific to the Marshall Islands.

I also collect bi metallic coins , and our 2 pound commemorative coins are pretty historically valid Magna Carta great fire of London.etc

But even in this threads there a lot to learn about numismatics