http://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/glitters-not-gold-fake-gold-silver-coins-flooding-market-n591201
Counterfeit coins are
"flooding the market at an astonishing rate," and compromising the
investments of collectors, according to the American Numismatic Association
(ANA).
"It's a very serious
problem and it's really scary," said Rod Gillis, ANA's education director.
"With improved technology, the fakes are getting better. It's gotten to
the point where even people who deal with coins all the time may not be able to
recognize a counterfeit coin right away."
Brian Silliman, who has
an online dealership, Brian Silliman Rare Coins, has been to China and seen the
counterfeiting operations there.
"They take the
actual image of the coin, use a graphics program to touch it up and then they
send it to an engraving machine that cuts the die. They're doing it just like
the Chinese mint does, but it's not the mint," Silliman told NBC News.
Most of the counterfeit
coins are made from a base metal, like tungsten, that is plated with a little
gold. This way it will pass the acid test that indicates gold. If it is
well-made, the fake will weigh the same as the genuine piece, making it even
harder to spot.
Coin expert Susan Headley
recently noted in her post Inside A Chinese Coin Counterfeiting Ring on
About.com that these counterfeiting operations are run like legal businesses.
"There is no law in China against making these 'replicas' as long as they
are sold as such," she wrote.
