hibernianscribe

I suppose it being a comedy we should be tolerant and allow 'artistic-licence' to blur historical accuracy.

Sword, I reckon that's probably a fair translation. Your skills in deciphering that deserve praise! Perhaps pretending to be a poor English speaker is also a good guise for peddling fakes.

He said, quote: "do not be false I'm portuguese with english family if you want promenor of the product contact thank you for the moment not to be at home" - What that means is anyone's guess!

Just got a message back from him - he's Portuguese but his English is gobbledygook (better than my Portuguese though). I think he might be genuinely unaware it's a fake.

Me too!

Instead of pulling it the seller has added a comment that it might be fake. No consolation for those that have already bid.

If we all sing from the same hymn sheet we might get some results!

Michael - Thanks for that - I am now enlightened and shall follow your methodology from now on. Frank

When we report items on eBay there are several options to follow and unfortunately "counterfeit" or "fake" is not offered as an option to select. I don't know what the rest of you do, but I select: "Listing Practices" as the report category then for my reason for report I select: "Fraudulent Listing Activities". I then select: "You suspect that a listing is fraudulent" as the detailed reason but this then has a qualifying statement which reads: The listing has items being sold without the owner's authorisation. You didn't bid." This doesn't make entire sense to me (the "you didn't bid" bit, that is) but presumably this is an example of the sort of thing eBay defines as fraudulent listing. So this report when submitted doesn't entirely suit the reporting of fakes. Do the rest of you do it like me or do you use other options? It would be good if eBay could be pursuaded to add options to their report form that are more specific to fakes and counterfeits. Frank

Got a response from the seller and after a brief exchange of messages I was thanked for "educating" them about reproduction Lizzie coins with this mark, and also an undertaking that the listing will be edited to reflect the fact that it is not genuine. Don't know whether that has happened yet.

Yippee! This means I've got enough of these (that I collected on my paper round as a kid) to buy a new house!

Reported as well. I also messaged the seller and got the cliché'd response that they know nothing about coins and that this one was found in an old box, etc., etc., yawn, yawn. They also asked about the heart mark that I'd previously alluded to in my first message, so we wait and see if it is pulled.

I really have to 'bite my online lip' when I see outrageous prices like this - and the pillock who's selling it purports to be a coin merchant - more like a con merchant!

Is there a link mate?

I agree entirely - It's far too perfect.

That's an excellent idea Stu.

and me - I wondered if this conmerchant would relist it again.

You know in all the years I've used eBay, which must be at least 10, I've never noticed that link - I suppose that's an indication that overall I've had reasonable experience with respect to my own purchases etc. since I've never needed to contact them. Thanks for that! Frank

That's interesting - I've never noticed any 'contact us' link on eBay - where is the contact number? Frank

I thoroughly agree Stu, the best we can do I suppose is to report as many that we see. But then how often does eBay actually pull the plug on an item - does it need a min number of reports? I think we have more success in contacting sellers to shame them, but then that doesn't work with the hard-nosed fraudsters. Frank

Problem is a lot of these fake milled lizzy coins look very authentic in the photographs on eBay, one really does need to handle them as well to be sure, so inexperienced collectors snap them up thinking they've got the real thing. It's a rotten shame and the crooks are laughing!

I see it's been sold for $25.

Here we go again: http://www.ebay.com/itm/222636312072?ul_noapp=true More from the Moscow Mint! I've reported it.

Reported as well.

It's always very pleasing to make a discovery like this, regardless of rarity, since it provides a tangible link with the past, especially in one's own home. In my view much more exciting than digging up 'ordinary' finds while metal detecting.