I've copied a pic of his fake maple (hope you dont mind) and put it against a pic of a genuine maple. There's at least 1 fake maple for sale on ebay aust now that I can see so it would seem these have been in the country a while. The arrows show the discrepancies. The lower arrow shows a "V" shaped vein which is missing on the fake and the upper arrow shows a vein going out to the edge of the leaf which is missing on the fake. The Number 1 has a different font on the fake. There's obviously other missing and incorrect leaf veins on the fake also but these 2 were pretty obvious.
thanks for this! would be really good if we could have a fake comparison thread (non panda as theres heaps of info on them already) Be interested to see the 2012 dragons and 2011 koala fakes compared - but not sure if this would be possible as having one might get you in alot of trouble
Different 9999's and the stem doesnt join the leaf in the right place. The more you look the more you see. Side by side pics of real/fake coins is definitely a great help. Much appreciated.
Strange as he sells totally different stuff, has been accused of selling fake before though see feedback. I wonder if they know or not ?
ebay's a free-for-all, huh - until a couple of days ago i navely trusted and figured that things are 'generally' as they are presented as, but seeing that seemingly fake pan am bar and following-up with a cursory search showing a proliferation of bars which to my eye look identical makes me reluctant to trust anything or anyone - even myself! like someone said, it is counterfeiting to make fake coins, but i guess mints can produce fake silver bars with relative impunity (because silver is no longer (and not yet again) recognized as real money). i wonder how prevalent fake silver is. is it just a blip? or do massive short sellers have a stake in this. that all said, i'm about to buy a cheap scale and silver testing acid and learn to do some specific gravity testing on different silver composition.
Maybe it's UK cameras/photographers, but hardly anything (i mean only a handful) of silver coins/bullion look authentic on our eBay, most of the coins seem to lack a lot of detail theres a philharmonic i was bidding on (that looks either so warn its barely recognizable or a total fake) and so I wasnt prepared to pay more than 10 inc. delivery, I havent won it (no surprise) but the bidding hasnt gone much higher (currently 13.10) Loads of libertads have flooded it and a few credit suisse dragon bars (dont have photos but the pic of the mint's website)
As long everyone remembers that this is one variety of fake, there are likely to be many variants, so of which are bound to be almost indistinguishable from the real thing. Good thread though
Avoid E-Bay like the plague. You have to remember that the owners of Ebay harbour and abet counterfeiting rackets. The unofficial motto of Ebay is Caveat emptor I just personally don't see how saving a few bucks is worth the risk. Even IF the 'advertised picture' is of the genuine article, that's no guarantee you'll simply be shipped a fake anyway. Scammers often use stock photos to hawk their goods. Simply stick to trusted sellers in the market. You are still getting your silver/gold at a bargain price all things considered and nearly guarantee ruling out risk of obtaining fakes.
So... do we have a name for this fake? How about the "No V" fake Most of the other differences you would need to have an original next to it, to compare fonts etc. the most obvious difference is the missing V vein. For the others you could be mistaken for not knowing how far up the leaf tip the vein goes, or thinking it was a weak strike or second guessing yourself but a completely missing feature should be the nominator. If I look at one and think, is this the "No V" fake it will remind me to look for the V. If I look at one and think, is this a fake, I have to try and remember the features to look out for. I am sure there will be others to come...
Eureka Moments comment of the leaf stem being off centre is also a very easy way of picking the fake.
Easy way of constantly having a real coin is to have all the pics of what your after saved onto your phone, obverse and the other side You'd be able to spot a fake in the few moments you look at it (obviously some fakes are almost exact you wouldnt be able to tell and are only marginally thicker so wouldnt be able to use a photo for scale differences)
This is getting very scary, now I am wondering, how many fakes have slipped into my stack unnoticed? Is the Specific Gravity test foolproof if done properly? Even honest sellers are going to get caught up in this. I tell ya, 66 rounds never looked so good.
