Guys, Are coins for sale that are government mint silver plated and stated as such actually legal? An example are these coins on ebay. I have also seen numerous pandas etc. Although they are not trying to fool, are they actually produced by the mints like this? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-x-2015-...102841?hash=item4d3f564f79:g:-fIAAOSwQYZWu5Mk Thanks
No, once they have a dollar value/denomination on them they're fully illegal as it's considered counterfeit currency. Let the seller and AFP know.
They are illegal but nothing seems to be done about it. I have made numerous reports to eBay regarding fakes and they have never removed an item or even bothered to respond. Too much money in it for them.
Some of the US fake plated coins have "copy" stamped on them so obviously the forgers fear the US legal system to some point. but do not fear anyone else's laws. Given nobody actually uses real silver or gold coins and they were never intended to be used for there face value then the fakes are of no threat to a governments circulating currency and not high enough of a PM value to warrant legal investigation. Rare and very valuable coins would be removed from ebay once discovered as fake if not stamped as "copy" and may even warrant a legal investigation into the seller Almost all designer cloths and items for sale on ebay are fake copy items even though its against ebay rules to knowingly sell such copy fakes so no different to fake copy collector coins and collector bars. All of these real pm modern coins were never meant to be purchased in huge quantities by individuals to create a profit making secondary market to which they pay no Tax or GST on such undeclared earnings so who would the law if enforced be protecting? Collector pm coin purchases are covered by consumer protection laws and this is true of ebay purchased fake coins,people who buy very large quantities of real pm coins for investment are also protected by the same consumer protection laws, black market purchases and sales are not protected by consumer protection laws. With all these fake coins and bars being introduced into the secondary market the precious metal "purely for collector value" loophole is tightening. PM coin collectors have nothing to fear by purchasing from an original or trusted source and its the same as its always been with fakes,opportunistic flippers on the other hand have much to fear.
Do mints have intellectual property rights over the designs of their coins? It seems strange that, with the current rabid obsession over protection of IP, mints dont pressure eBay to remove the copies.
They do but remember reading somewhere that it was just too resource intensive to go chasing these people all day everyday. As soon as they close one seller down, another one takes their place. Didn't he the impression that they were all too concerned about it.
They are all too scared to upset the Chinese in any way or they would hunt down the source not ebay. Some of the older US gold coin fakes are stamped with copy I presume because they may well get chased down by the US if they didnt? By advertising "plated" the coins are being sold as plated and not as the real deal. I said this before I think? in UK as a kid at any market you could buy a gold plated Sovereign ring or pendant without any of the sellers getting involved in any legal action because these fakes were just that fake copies not fooling anyone in look or price. I am not sure any experienced pm buyer would really be fooled by these Chinese fakes and if you are not an experienced pm buyer you should stick to buying from reliable sellers same as it has always been with Gold and Silver. Personally I take my chances on very small buys but would only ever spend $$$ on pm,s with a reputable pm dealer because I just dont know enough about pm,s.
Who'd want fake designer cloths? the majority of Aussie tourists visiting Bali do or the majority of European and Aussie/NZ tourists visiting Thailand do plus all those who cant afford to travel so rely on cheap ebay snide products do! No difference between snide cloths snide jewellery and snide pm,s and there is always many an opportunist willing to take the risk of selling snide goods as the real thing to the un informed/un suspecting I have only seen a handful of these Chinese fake coins and bars and even I as a new entrant into pm,s can tell the difference immediately. There is of course always good quality fake anything that was produce purely to deceive even the knowing but these fake Chinese coins and bars are not it! Collectors and stackers dont want to feed this false market but they are the ones who need to acquire some of these fake coins and bars to educate themselves on spotting future possibly better quality and more credible looking fakes that may start to appear. The Chinese manufacturers are out to fool the opportunistic re sellers into thinking there product is close to the real item leaving the re seller to convince the proposed buyer of the same! either way the Chinese manufacturers get their profit from fools who are fooling themselves.
