Now there's an interesting conspiracy theory... Wouldn't put it passed them but any factual evidence?
O Ebay and the secret service can do it when they want to " Secret Service sometime last month to remove the Liberty Dollar precious metal coins. Citing consistency with eBay's general policy of not listing counterfeit items, eBay spokesperson Ryan Moore confirmed the ban with Coin World. The following email was sent to affected sellers when the systematic removals began: "The United States Secret Service has requested the removal of all Norfed Liberty dollars on the eBay site as counterfeits. Please do not relist this item(s). We appreciate that you chose to list this coin on our site and understand there was no ill intent on your part. Your listing fees have been credited to your account. " http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonmato...e-bans-certain-gold-and-silver-coins-on-ebay/
Flooding the market with fakes could undermine basic consumer confidence in silver coins, especially if the media (and current affairs shows) run a flood of scare stories. They could rollout some financial "experts" to tell people that silver is a fad and that people's money would be better invested in shares and housing. We're not seeing that yet so silver probably isn't on the radar of the government-corporate spin doctors.
Given the historical penalties for counterfeiting it is not reasonable to compare the vast scale of the modern Chinese manufacturing and distribution mechanisms like ebay that were unimaginable two hundred years ago; "The English couple Thomas and Anne Rogers were convicted on 15 October 1690 for "Clipping 40 pieces of Silver." Thomas Rogers was hanged, drawn and quartered while Anne Rogers was burnt alive. Evidence supplied by an informant led to the arrest of the last of the English Coiners "King" David Hartley, who was executed by hanging in 1770. The extreme forms of punishment were meted out for acts of treason against state or Crown, rather than simple crime. Similarly, in America, Colonial paper currency printed by Benjamin Franklin and others often bore the phrase "to counterfeit is death."[7] The theory behind such harsh punishments was that one who had the skills to counterfeit currency was considered a threat to the safety of the State, and had to be eliminated. Another explanation is the fact that issuing money that people could trust was both an economic imperative, as well as a (where applicable) Royal prerogative; therefore counterfeiting was a crime against the state or ruler itself, rather than against the person who received the fake money. " I would still speculate that the industrial scale of manufacture of counterfeit currency in China is state sponsored. Rather than the US it is China that wants to see stacking silver (in this bullion coins at least) as pointless.
I'm not sure if there is any out there to suggest it, I haven't looked. It was a thought that I had, "theory", but... We see consistently throughout history Government undermining precious metals and the demonetization of silver. Fekete wrote an excellent history of how they thawed silver as money in the East. So from Nero to present as anyone who knows what Government and Authority is really there for, I think it is plausible. Counterfeiting is super serious so you have to ask the question "why aren't they getting involved?". Personally from experience I'm more likely to believe in fairies than coincidence. Look what they did to Norfed in the US. And here in Australia, http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/hi...nesses-and-banks/story-e6freuy9-1226584584156 And they even have cross boarder co-operation and investigation. I think it's pretty easy to make the logical inference. Easy to say that it's tinfoil hat ay? I would say This is counterfeiting, it is illegal, it is very serious. Nothing is being done.
The moral of the story is buy from reputable sources, ie someone that used XRF scanner or direct from the mint, someone with long traded history etc.
I'm inclined to agree. Norfed was pounced on whereas neither ebay or the US care about the equivalent of fake 1 dollar bills being manufactured in China? Really? Now if someone was selling bundles of colour copied five dollar bills via ebay I wonder what would happen? Why is silver US Mint currency any different. Ebay policy allows counterfeit us money now? Source:
Absolutely and now you are on here, and if you take the theory one step further, we are discussing it as an issue is doing exactly what the theory suggests. Undermining confidence in precious metals. Golden chipmunk is right buy from trusted source and know where the metal came from. Ask if you have to.
If all silver bullion coin trading needs an XRF scanner in the provenance chain then it gets a bit whacky for small buyers to even get started. I'm staying clear of the popular bullion coins and sticking to the more obscure Euro junk and numis they have not got around to yet.
Sorry but XRF are getting less useful as they are now putting thicker plating on the coins that fool the XRF. It's a $25,000 toy gun now. Unless you chop first then XRF.
There are six XRF around me, not mine but it comes very handy to know where they are. I usually borrow them when buy my stuffs. So to say you don't have to invest in one.
Until very recently, eBay had a team that investigated fake coins, few people on another site im on were part of that team, they all were told they were not needed anymore and no other explanation was given They didnt do much before, took down the occasional listing so good luck trying to get them to do anything now
There is a report item link in the listing description just to the top right of the descriptions beside the print icon. That will bring you to a report item page where you make the following choices. Report category Prohibited and restricted items Reason for report Stamps, currency and coins Detailed reason Replica coins, replica paper money, and replica stamps FYI I intend to bring this to the Irish Police fraud squad along with a full history of Ebays failure to take action alond with reporting it to the Secret Service bureau in London and the Canadian embassy in Dublin if the listings remain. I ask the users of this forum to consider that if there were a sufficient number of documented cases of Ebay failing to act on policy that a class action for compensation to our investments from Ebays business practise in facilitating counterfeit sales and failing to act on reports may reasonably justify compensation to people who can show they owned the real item and it's value on resale has been diminished.
I'll see how they get on with the authorities and media for their stance. It's as illegal as you can get - including running an action selling them as you can get here. I've reported these and the last batch of counterfeits this seller had up - emailed ebay, contacted their support via chat. Nothing. I have all transcipts and emails showing ebay were made fully aware they were engaged in a crime being involved in the sale or distribution of these here.
I think if you succeed then everyone will have a lot to thank you for. Better yet if there are a few high profile prosecutions that were well publicised, that would be fantastic!
