A couple of days ago a friend and collector sent me some photos of silver Pandas that he had bought. He told me that the weights were a little inconsistent and asked if I could offer an opinion on the coins from his photos. For the record, .1 gram is within the official tolerances for silver Pandas, so that didn't decide anything. I soon had a group of photos in my email box. They looked like pretty nice coins at first glance, so I took a closer look at them. I compared the photos the collector sent to some file photos. Areas that seemed off were circled or marked with red arrows. Perhaps the biggest flaw in my mind is the luster, or surface quality of the fake coins. Check out the rough quality of the 2006 devices or the hairlines in the field of the 2008. Eventually we both concluded that the coins are at the least suspicious. One part of the conversation that stood out to me is these are good enough to fool even an experienced buyer. It isn't surprising. The Chinese mints now use laser-scanning technology to make their dies. My bet is that the best counterfeiters do this, too. These fakes are very good, but luster is very difficult to duplicate. Impossible, I think, on a plated coin. The highest value fakes of older coins are made from cheaper coins that are melted down so the metal content matches originals. Then they are struck on old presses. Very hard to distinguish these. Our modern fakes are not yet at that level, fortunately. Cutting to the chase, my friend decided to return these coins to the seller. One thing he sure did right was to get a money-back guarantee. He also told me that he is more inclined to buy graded coins in the future. Anyway, here are the photo comparisons. I hope they prove useful to others, too. Best wishes, Peter Anthony China Pricepedia www.pandacollector.com
Holy smokes. They look identical! Thanks for sharing the info. The level of precision the fakesters use is astounding!
Even with the close-up photos, it's very difficult to see differences in my view. Though luster may be a give-away as to a replica / fake to an experienced collector, I would have to assume that the higher relief a coin or medal is, the more costly it is to produce and to reproduce replicas of. Can anyone confirm whether this might be true or not? . .
Oh wow. To a casual buyer like me, I would have never known the coin on the left is a fake. Just would like to clarify if the counterfeit is plated and not pure silver? Cos I have the Precious Metal Verifier which can call out a counterfeit if it is plated.
IF it is fake, it is a good one. Based on the photo I suspect it is counterfeit but can't be totally sure without seeing it myself. The grading companies have the best resources to determine authenticity. Best wishes, Peter Anthony China Pricepedia www.pandacollector.com
In fact, Peter, I've always wanted to know (but have never knew who to ask until now), what does a TPG like NGC do to authenticate a silver coin like a Panda or any for that matter? Because if the fakes today are being made to such high standards (and those standards will only improve over the years), then just a visual examination may not be enough. Do the TPG's like NGC weigh what appears to be common bullion coins, test their metal content with a device like the Precious Metals Verifier, and so forth? Thanks for any insight on this. .
Is this one of those " is the dress green or silver " examples? same coin different light or angle? The 2008 on the left has different lettering in my opinion. The 999 has more of a rounded edge to the tail of the three nines as well. I would pick the left hand one to be the fake but its really difficult to examine without the coin in hand.
The coin on the left is the one I am suspicious of. My opinion to the writer was that I would not buy these coins but it was his decision. Based on these photos that is as far as I can go. Even if I did have the coins in hand I might not be certain. One has to be very careful not to confuse a variety with a counterfeit. That said, the nature of the differences raise big red flags for me. As for what resources a grading company has to determine fakes? All I can say is that what I saw at NGC greatly impressed me. Their ability to determine the authenticity of modern Chinese coins is outstanding and makes me very happy to be associated with them. Best wishes, Peter Anthony China Pricepedia www.pandacollector.com
