Exactly, which is why it is important to look beyond the present. With the current technology one can make exact replicas. Moreover once a scan is captured the softcopy can be doctored to create flaws that will be unique to each coin produced. This will take care of Matt’s point that replicas will mirror the originals in the flaws that they carry.
A BIG YES but how do we know how many specimens of a given genuine article exist? For instance everyone knows that an 1864 penny is very scarce in unc, yet no one knows exactly how many of these exist in UNC currently or where they are. How then will one tell a replica and a genuine article, possibly saved in a vault for the last 150 years, apart?
Unless we have something that can tell the composition of the platchet apart or something, like Carbon 14 dating, that can pin point the exact time of when a platchet was manufactured; it is going to get very difficult for everyone. Possibly something we should all plan for and for all we know it might be the next biggest thing since TPGCs as far as numismatics is concerned.