Gary D

Do you not get my point though, that in this particular instance we cannot rely on the die flaw to indicate a forgery. The point you made has been long established,nothing new.Did i not point out i suspected it could be a die flaw produced by the Royal mint itself ? I fail to see why im quoted when im entirely off on another tangent concerning PCGS. Red makes a valid point. I was just giving my observations. By the way the 1905 forgeries assuming there are no recent one's comming out of china came out of the middle east probably Turkey sometime ago, likely in the 1970-80s. There is a website devoted to forgeries which gave all the indicators to identify the 1905 forgeries. I saw the information a couple of years ago then subsiquently could no longer find it. My harddrive died a couple of months ago and I lost the link to the site. I have since been searching for it but without any luck. Gary

Anything is possible, just seems too many around with the same flaw including the two fakes I've had. And my previous example was only a GF-VF.

The first two links are of the same coin. But yes, I too would be very interested in Gary's analysis. They look, for all the world, like ordinary, fairly well worn old coins. Yes the first two are the same, bit of cut and pasting problem there. Looking at the one I had intended to link again it's not so clear so I'll show you mine instead.

I shouldn't really say just in case I decide to sell my GEF fake on ebay If you look at the R in EDWARDVS there is a spider-like crack where the front leg joins the loop. It's either very common on the 1905 HC or just coincidence that both known fakes I've owned also have it. Gary

I initially though great, but then remembered there's nothing to stop someone having many accounts all with 100 per month each I'm sure the loop hole will soon be filled. I've personally got a buying and another selling account....it will surely stop some sellers listing 600 items of tat per week & I never sell more than 100 coins per month.....I shall be holding off for a month or 2 to see how it pans out. In the good old days maybe 12 or 13 thousand coins were listed under British now its more like 40,000. If you search worldwide it's in the high 50s. Blocking seller, now that would be good to do. I wish you could block sellers.

There's a time limit on the edit function. Gary

I've also bought one or two bits from this seller and have been happy so far. I must admit I'm starting to get a bit cautious as this seller has been selling high grade Ed VII florins and shilling for a few years now. There does seem to be an endless supply of them. One thing in their favour is they don't seem to come up with 1905's which would start the flags flying. Gary PS on the subject of fakes, here's another one. Link and another Link one more Link There's a couple more on there but the picture aren't up to it. Gary

I initially though great, but then remembered there's nothing to stop someone having many accounts all with 100 per month each

We have ebay to thank for that. Now they hide the identities of bidders there's no way to check it the same bidders come up again and again. Increases ebay profits or cause to allow shill bidding so no vested interest there then. Gary

The same happened to me a couple of months ago. I think it's his wife that buys and he sells. I sold a 1903 half crown in about VF which had a bit of toning. It was sniped for the reserve of £350 which was a bit of a disapointment. By the lunch time of the day he received it had been dipping and was back on ebay as EF to GEF. I saw it at £800 and didn't have the heart to see what it ended at. There have been complaints about this guy on other forums so he's not as respected as one would be led to beleive. Gary

Does this mean ebay has done something right for a change. Those ever rotating junk coins have added over 10,000 auctions to the average 10 day turnover. All we need to do now is get rid of all the birthday coins and coin cufflinks.

Hi Alan There is one here for £275 I know just how you feel...I've bought a few "must haves" recently. Good luck Peter http://www.ringramcoins.com/antique_coins_catalogue.shtml Ah yes the guy who buys £14.99 replicas from ebay and sells them for £125, 1933 penny, 1937 EVIII 3d, 1952 Halfcrown anyone.

There are dots and there are celebrated dots. 1897 penny, 1946 penny and less so the 1909 penny. The 1897 is value highly for some reason and the 1946 comes up too often to become very valuable. Perhaps I should make a killing err I mean sell my 1909 before the interest wains.

A good fake can be worth some money. EF+ 1905 halfcrowns go for anything up to £250 at auction as identified fakes, mind you they go for much more on ebay, there's one on there now. I guess the problem with modern chinese fakes is there's just too many of them to be worth anymore than bullion, assuming there's any silver etc in them. Perhaps in twenty or thirty years even they will start to appreciate. Gary

Actually shutting e bay down is impractical, as they don't just sell coins. Surely the way forward is to target those sellers who are correctly identified by buyers, or potential buyers, as being responsible for passing on fakes, whether deliberately or by default. The problem in the case of very good fakes is that the buyer may not even be aware of the fact that he holds a fake, until he comes to sell it, or some dealer looks at it at a much later date. I've no idea what UK law is in this respect, but it would be prudent to never buy from China, and I've noticed that many e bayers refuse to sell to China, as well. I suppose the only true 99% safe guarantee, is only to buy slabbed coins from e bay. Athough I'd guess that 99% + of the coins on offer, are actually genuine ~ especially the worn ones lol. Apart from the fake slabs now comming out of China.

Scarce is a slight understatement as there are thought to be 2 1933 pennies available to collectors. Coins with altered dates appear on a regular basis and there are also copies available, but as the last genuine 1933 penny to change hands in 2006 cost the new owner £45K, nobody is going to be fooled by a coin on offer at £125. A well executed altered date does have some value though because by definition there can never be more than one or two people able to own the proper thing and it is the key date for any penny collection. If it's the online coin site I'm thinking of the owner of those 1933 pennies is being very cheaky. They are a couple of the replicas readily available on ebay for £14.99

Yeah, not sure where they've gone. I'm sure they were still there last time I looked (in February). He seems to be opening a new shop and setting up a new website. Not certain why this has stopped him listing on Online Coins though. I know the shop moved from Sandy to Bigglewade last year sometime.

That's good idea, then can we have the next peak in 2019 around april - may time.

That's the commercial piece not the proof which is in silver. Take it to the post office and get your fiver, much less hassle. Gary

It happens, more often than you would think. I picked up an about UNC 1949 3d which I paided full book for but what the dealer wasn't aware of was it was the little publisized sharp corner variety which I believe is a very scarce variety of a scarce coin. I also at the same fair picked up a 1922 florin in nice condition with the much scarcer repunched 2s. I think my best find was a 1902 low tidepenny in UNC with the 2 to gap marked up for £25 at Coinex last year. An example had sold at Colin Cookes 2 weeks earlier for £400. Gary

As a coin collector surely money is the object

The hard bit would be getting all post 2008. If you just wanted 20p peices a trip to a UK bank would get you all that you could want, the problem is though they would be mixed, unless you could find some bags ready to be issued. How many is this guy looking for? You should be able to pick them up for face value plus postage to the States. The teacher just got back to me and said he needed 100 pieces of the new design. That's £20 face value if my maths is right. Weight would be 0.5kg. My brother is a bank manager I'll ask him if it is possible to get that nummer of one type. Gary

The hard bit would be getting all post 2008. If you just wanted 20p peices a trip to a UK bank would get you all that you could want, the problem is though they would be mixed, unless you could find some bags ready to be issued. How many is this guy looking for? You should be able to pick them up for face value plus postage to the States.

Toning can take on many colours from a single colour to a rainbow effect. The colour as well as depending on the alloy used in the coin will also depend on the conditions under which the toning occurred. Gary

It depends on the colour. The Americans are much more into toning than us Brits and will pay a premium for the more colourful examples. I prefer mine shiny but it's a devil getting the smell of Brasso off your hands.