I am not the answer man, but love to believe so. Perhaps a Bar Council or Justice of the Peace representative/present when opening the package. I do know that a Bar Council member (Barrister) is the best international witness or statutory declaration. Basically, have upstanding citizens in a community as witnesses (preferably a GP or Lawyer). Another option (which can be used in conjunction above) would be to video record (or Iphone) the receiving and opening of the package/parcel. .
This isn't a good theory to work under... it can be demonstrated that despite a multitude of fakes, genuine coins maintain their prices. This doesn't just apply to Pandas, but to other numismatic coins too. E.g. Despite some excellent counterfeits of the 1930 Penny, people are still willing to pay top dollar for a bronze coin. Source: http://www.thesandpit.net/coinshop/1930_penny.html So far the 1930 Penny has lasted 82 years, without 'super' fakes destroying the market. Plus, if a 'super' fake were to be made, it's unlikely to be a numismatic coin (since it is easy to detect a flood of rare coins onto the market)... it's more likely to be bullion coins with unchanging designs, since a flood of these would be imperceptible to the market. E.g. 10,000 1930 superfake Pennies (or 2000 Mirrored Pandas) would be hard to distribute. 10,000 superfake ASEs or Maples would distribute themselves among the population very quickly. Relationship (aka "guangxi"). The dealers I deal with (in Australia and elsewhere) are not likely to have any fake coins, but if they did, they are likely to accept it back, since it would ruin their reputation if it was discovered it came from them. Plus, peddling fake coins is a serious offense in most countries, including China. I was sold a fake gold Panda from someone in Victoria. Within 24hours I got a full refund. The best defense against getting stung by fakes is education. Do your homework and come to your own conclusions. For me, Pandas have been by far the most profitable coins in my collection (in spite of the bad bears) and the market seems to agree. ... I'm still working towards my Australian Penny set, despite some very good counterfeits.
yennus the 1930 penny is not a good example. That is the high end market and that is not what is being discussed in this thread. Nor do I consider the chart you posted valid to this discussion. The older pandas, had much lower mintage. This thread is about easily available bullion coins. I do agree that education is one of the best defenses. But most of the public will not take the time to educate themselves. They will buy what they are comfortable buying. And education will probably not do you any good when you are buying from a larger dealer, especially through the internet. If someone is buying face-to-face, the risk of receiving fakes is much smaller and the chance of being able to return the coin is much greater. Unfortunately, where I live, a local coin dealer is not an option. Thor, a friend of mine received a fake $100 USD from a local bank. They are supposed to check all bills that come in, but they obviously don't. The fake was caught at a McDonalds. My understanding is the the taxistas in BAs are getting very good at passing out fake bills. WTF - The suggestions you made are valid, but not realistic. When other choices are available, why buy something that is going to put you to extra trouble?
dccpa, you made the incorrect claim that fakes adversely affect the market. You said: "as the fakes become plentiful for a coin, it adversely affects the price of the genuine coins." I used a non-Panda example to demonstrate that your "theory" is wrong. But I could use current Panda examples too. E.g. 2000 1oz Silver Mirrored Panda was a Bullion Panda that now sells for over $1500 despite (arguably) being the most faked bear in the Panda market. E.g. 2009 1oz Silver Commemorative Panda is a Bullion Panda that now sells for over $80 despite the presence of fakes. E.g. 2010 1oz Silver and Gold Pandas still command a premium over 2011 bullion despite the presence of fakes. The chance of receiving fake bullion Gold/Silver Pandas when purchasing through an online dealer is incredibly small. Which online dealer will sell you a fake Panda? APMEX, Gainesville, PandaAmerica, etc? The hype does not match with reality. Buying Pandas don't get people into trouble, for the past 23years they have given people profit! Any objective person who has done their homework cannot dispute the fact that gold and silver Pandas have been incredibly profitable to stack (apart from the satisfaction of collecting some stunning coins) - much more so than pure bullion (please understand, I'm not deriding bullion... only illustrating that certain subsets within precious metals have historically outperformed bullion). Yep, the USD is one of the most faked notes in the world and it is not the counterfeits notes that are destroying the currency.
Bullion Gold Lunars & Pandas are both good Gold coin series that tend to appreciate over time with a growing premium over spot and are easily available. Common date sovereigns tend to be only worth their metal value and maybe a slight premium, not sure if the numismatic sovereigns have an increasing premium over spot but unless you get lucky you won't be getting them near spot anyway. Britannias ... suck. I have some Gold britannias they were expensive and their premiums have probably dropped. AGE/Buffalos, too widely produced as generic bullion, their premiums are pretty much fixed like Gold bars. Same with Krugs. Ducats/Gulden etc, nice coins, I like them myself but the restrikes have almost no numismatic value and probably won't for another 50+ years. The Lire/Korona/Franc coins from Europe are also near melt value and premiums don't really grow over time (assuming you buy common dates near melt).
