Yeah, maybe soon the only way to tell if a rare numismatic coin is legit is if it comes with a COA but even then there may still be a cloud of doubt over all of them. Soon this will play on all coin collectors mind/confidence.
According to the article, the fakes being made entirely from precious metals are fakes of true numismatic coins, not modern semi-numismatic coins: "With the market for rare and antique coins booming and the biggest coin markets in New York forgers have mastered the art of creating nearly exact replicas of valuable collectors' items..." The cost of making a full precious metal content fake coin which replicates a rare numismatic precious metal coin is more than some here may think. Fakes which use little to no precious metals are of course less costly to make because of the less costly metals used. I don't think that full precious metal fakes are being made to replicate modern precious metal semi-numis - non-precious metals are being used as the material in fakes of such coins. It is apparently only (by and large) rare and rather expensive numismatic coins that are being faked with full precious metal copies made in China. Therefore I don't see why buyers of modern precious metal collector coins would be worried if they are astute and test for type of metal; because these are not the coins that are being targeted by the manufacturers that are producing full precious metal content fakes. Also, if you are buying from a reputable dealer, you shouldn't be more concerned than if you are buying blobs. Besides, if you are a buyer of old and rare numismatic coins, you are much better off buying coins graded by reputable TPG's unless you are an expert or are very knowledgeable. .
A flood of rare things already signals fakes by itself. I wonder, how "big", expressed in amount money annually traded, is this antique coins market? The bullion / junk market amount is probably many thousandsfolds. Those that produce fakes, have to have some sales figure high enough to get more than they put in it, and it's a niche market, and by doing so, they may even make it smaller due to less people willing to take the risk. People are inventive. Maybe there are ways to distinguish replicas from original production. Maybe the original coins / blancs' silver molecular structure has some characteristics that allows to distinguish, related to the way default machinery / tools / production process worked at that time. Including the 10% copper. Every metal, also what we call "pure" isn't 100%. Even the 999999 of the RSC rounds contain traces of a variety of elements. The silver from old US coins is likely mined in the US. It's quite possible that the geology/evolution caused another set of trace elements than the one of the silver that the Chinese forgers use. To copy that, they'd need to purchase US mined silver and maybe even from the same mine that the silver from the real coins was made from. Of course, such detailed analysis has a price tag too. Still, the numismatic side sends coins for grading, so something similar could become available for this. Not that it's my interest, the 'numismatic' level (read: extra cost) that I buy is too low to give a copycat a profit worth the hassle/cost. I see those antique rare coins as a too niche market, bullion and themed coins / rounds find way more customers. That's just a choice, if I had wun a lottery or "work" for, be sponsored by, State, it might be different haha. Those that have to produce the stuff know the value of it, the parasite club out there has less clue.
