Recently Purchased Fake 1 oz Perth Mint-OPM-Morgan Dollar-silver coins

BullionBuddy

BullionBuddy

Member
Silver Stacker
Hi All,
This is my first post as i have only recently discovered the joys of stacking so many of you may already be aware of the fakes out there and have discussed the circumstances around your fake purchases.
All my fakes 22 in total have been purchased in Australian from on-line auction houses that are apparently reputable-they have refused to back their products so buyer beware.
What made me suspect i had a fake in the first place was that a 2015 funnel web spider 1 oz was extremely magnetic(this coin came slabbed in a PGS certified holder) it was that magnetic that it held through the plastic. so i broke it out of the slab and found it to be 28gr, this got me checking all my other recent purchases from the same auction houses and i found that 22 out of the 30 items purchased are fake.(list below)
I took my coins to a couple of coin dealers in Brisbane( Colonial and Global) and also Ainslie Bullion all these places are super helpful and professional-they verified the fakes so please be careful when purchasing on-line or when you do not have the ability to weigh or measure prior to purchase.
Ainslie Bullion in Brisbane have notified the Perth Mint.

The most concerning thing about these fakes is the quality- checked individually (not beside a real one of the same year) they are very difficult to spot.
Perth Mint Issues 1 oz silver coins;
2015 Funnel Web Spider
2015 Anniversary Kookaburra
2015 Salt water Croc
2015 Koala
2016 Kangaroo
2013 Koala
2014 wedge-tailed eagle

OPM 1 oz round

Morgan Dollars numerous years 10 fakes purchased.

I hope this helps out some people that are getting into stacking or those of you that want to check recent on-line purchases- i have a learnt a valuable lesson from this experience and will not get burnt again.

Cheers for reading.
 
BullionBuddy said:
Sorry all forgot to mention the auction place- it was Lloyds Auctions on the Gold Coast .
Click to expand...

This would probably put me off of buying from them...

(Whilst high volumes of incoming products prevent us from testing every incoming item individually -Lloyds do not knowingly sell faulty items. Inspection is welcomed) (SH)
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That plus having seen similar fakes for sale on eBay.

I've seen some really questionable selling tactics by local general auctioneers with respect to coins and numismatic type items. I witnessed one auctioneer here strongly imply that gold plated items were actually solid gold items. Another one recently sold some extremely rare U.S. silver dollars that were most likely of questionable authenticity (e.g. if you're getting a commission, why would you sell a coin that if authenticate would sell for several thousand dollars at a small poorly advertised, local auction where you likely won't get the items true value?)..
 
I wonder if your next best option is to talk to some local reporters and have them do the magnet test on a bunch of items available for inspection and up for auction, mention it to the people at the auction company and then bust them when they continue to sell the item.
 
Just had a quick look on their website. It looks like most of the items in their coin section are obvious fakes! They are selling a gold plated perth mint 1 oz gold bar for $1250 and have a disclaimer saying they do not knowingly sell fakes! Can't believe people have the nerve to do this.
 
I've dealt with lloyds several times both as a seller and a buyer and have never had any problems. They're not a high class collectibles auction house, they are a pile-it-high, sell-it-cheap place that shifts everything from flood damaged food to semi-trailers and everything inbetween. If you go there to sell something, they ask you to describe it and that is how they sell it. Caveat emptor.
 
thanks for all your feedback.
hopefully this generates further discussion and highlights the issues of fakes out there, for other newbies to learn from.
I know a lot of you have been doing this for a long time so you have obviously learnt from others mistakes or maybe one of your own.
being new to this I have already learnt from mine and I am now very cautious when making a purchase.
once bitten twice shy.
for the record some of the fakes had the experts a little worried as the quality was very good.
 
Contact the Australian Federal Police's Currency Team in Melbourne - you were sold counterfeit Australian legal tender. They will take it seriously.
 
No offense to the OP, but I am not buying this story- that is about the fakes being difficult to spot. I am compulsive about searching out fakes both online and from local and out of state dealers I know. I have seen and handled many different fakes of both gold and silver coins. To date I have not seen one fake of a government issued silver coin that was not detectable by the naked eye in my observations.

Many of the fake coins sold on Alibaba, etc use photos of real gov minted silver bullion to sell fakes. When seen in person the fakes are really a joke to someone who has experience dealing with them. If we are talking newbies or people with limited experience, then yes the fakes could pass muster.

If this story IS true, this will be reported on one or more of the many online coin blogs, for such a development would be BIG news.

Just my opinion.

Jim
 
Jim4silver said:
No offense to the OP, but I am not buying this story- that is about the fakes being difficult to spot. I am compulsive about searching out fakes both online and from local and out of state dealers I know. I have seen and handled many different fakes of both gold and silver coins. To date I have not seen one fake of a government issued silver coin that was not detectable by the naked eye in my observations.

Many of the fake coins sold on Alibaba, etc use photos of real gov minted silver bullion to sell fakes. When seen in person the fakes are really a joke to someone who has experience dealing with them. If we are talking newbies or people with limited experience, then yes the fakes could pass muster.

If this story IS true, this will be reported on one or more of the many online coin blogs, for such a development would be BIG news.

Just my opinion.

Jim
Click to expand...

tend to agree when it comes to PM silver coins. When it comes to coins, I have only been fooled by morgans in recent times - and that's my fault for not keeping up to date with fake dates I suppose. Having said that they are getting better, PM gold bars being a prime example.

I would now not touch PM carded gold bars - the fakes are brilliant, unless you buy from a dealer or have scales not worth the risk in my opinion.
 
Aureus said:
Jim4silver said:
No offense to the OP, but I am not buying this story- that is about the fakes being difficult to spot. I am compulsive about searching out fakes both online and from local and out of state dealers I know. I have seen and handled many different fakes of both gold and silver coins. To date I have not seen one fake of a government issued silver coin that was not detectable by the naked eye in my observations.

Many of the fake coins sold on Alibaba, etc use photos of real gov minted silver bullion to sell fakes. When seen in person the fakes are really a joke to someone who has experience dealing with them. If we are talking newbies or people with limited experience, then yes the fakes could pass muster.

If this story IS true, this will be reported on one or more of the many online coin blogs, for such a development would be BIG news.

Just my opinion.

Jim
Click to expand...

tend to agree when it comes to PM silver coins. When it comes to coins, I have only been fooled by morgans in recent times - and that's my fault for not keeping up to date with fake dates I suppose. Having said that they are getting better, PM gold bars being a prime example.

I would now not touch PM carded gold bars - the fakes are brilliant, unless you buy from a dealer or have scales not worth the risk in my opinion.
Click to expand...

Talking PM gold certicards would this still apply (your opinion on purchasing) to the ones in the new packaging?

With the new tamper proof certicards that show "void" if opened most people still wouldnt know if they were fake given nobody opens them to show the void security feature!
 
fishtaco said:
Aureus said:
Jim4silver said:
No offense to the OP, but I am not buying this story- that is about the fakes being difficult to spot. I am compulsive about searching out fakes both online and from local and out of state dealers I know. I have seen and handled many different fakes of both gold and silver coins. To date I have not seen one fake of a government issued silver coin that was not detectable by the naked eye in my observations.

Many of the fake coins sold on Alibaba, etc use photos of real gov minted silver bullion to sell fakes. When seen in person the fakes are really a joke to someone who has experience dealing with them. If we are talking newbies or people with limited experience, then yes the fakes could pass muster.

If this story IS true, this will be reported on one or more of the many online coin blogs, for such a development would be BIG news.

Just my opinion.

Jim
Click to expand...

tend to agree when it comes to PM silver coins. When it comes to coins, I have only been fooled by morgans in recent times - and that's my fault for not keeping up to date with fake dates I suppose. Having said that they are getting better, PM gold bars being a prime example.

I would now not touch PM carded gold bars - the fakes are brilliant, unless you buy from a dealer or have scales not worth the risk in my opinion.
Click to expand...

Talking PM gold certicards would this still apply (your opinion on purchasing) to the ones in the new packaging?

With the new tamper proof certicards that show "void" if opened most people still wouldnt know if they were fake given nobody opens them to show the void security feature!
Click to expand...

The fakes are much better quality certicard compare to Perth Mint
As Perth Mint certicard tend to peel off in half .
They don't bother checking the quality.
Lmao!!!
 
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