Fake silver coins/bars showing up in the NW

[Sasquatchvnv]

Sherrie Questioning All: **ALERT** FAKE Silver Coins/Bars/Ingots ARE on the market in U.S.!

Be careful out there - things seem to be getting shadier by the day.

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[Decker]

Listen for the sound of truth.

-d

 

[dave]

Stay far away from any bar or round that says 100 mills pure silver or any variant of mills for that matter. These are silver covered iron bars that have no value whatsoever. I ended up with 2 of these out of ignorance.

Now its strictly Eagles or bar stock from a highly respected mint such as Apmex or Kitco.

 

[Siglvr]

Thanks for the heads up Sasq. BTW, also of concern to NWFA members is the counterfitting of Leupold scopes. They say they appear the same on the outside, but you can easily call the S/N into the factory ("write down the serial number and call 1-800-LEUPOLD to confirm if it is indeed authentic") to confirm it is theirs.

<broken link removed>

 

[Rusoarmo]

Wow thanks for the warning. Although my personal collection is small I'm sticking with eagles and pre-65 coins...

 

[chemist]

Now its strictly Eagles or bar stock from a highly respected mint such as Apmex or Kitco.

+1

Would you buy a Rolex or a diamond on Craigslist, or from a pawn shop? Reputable dealers have reasonable markups that are neither excessive nor too good to be true. The bargains come with quantity purchases. Silver Eagles are a great candidate for a group buy!

 

[Texfisher33]

I sold some old 1 oz silver bars/rounds to a dealer a few weeks ago. He had his grandson who was working for him go through and look at every one of them fairly carefully. He said he's had a few fakes come through as well.

 

[mjbskwim]

Two pawn shops in Port Angeles got burned buying fake coins.

 

[moose]

I have a couple dozen silver coins dated 1740 - 1900. Very pretty but none tip the scales at even close to an ounce. They sound funny too.

I didnt pay anything for them so no big deal.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Thanks for the heads up Sasq. BTW, of concern is the counter fitting of Leupold scopes. They say they appear the same on the outside, but you can easily call the S/N into the factory ("write down the serial number and call 1-800-LEUPOLD to confirm if it is indeed authentic") to confirm it is theirs.

<broken link removed>

Is it only those two scope types? I am about to send in an older-looking 3 x 9 target dot scope that will not adjust.. traded for it a few months ago (2010) from a guy in Oregon who was offering them here..

 

[mccullogh]

I have a couple dozen silver coins dated 1740 - 1900. Very pretty but none tip the scales at even close to an ounce. They sound funny too.

I didnt pay anything for them so no big deal.

Did you weigh them in troy OZ ? they may not have been 1oz coins either.
I wouldn't assume they are fake. You should get a couple of coin shops to look at them before you do anything with them.

 

[nubus]

I have a couple dozen silver coins dated 1740 - 1900. Very pretty but none tip the scales at even close to an ounce. They sound funny too.

I didnt pay anything for them so no big deal.

Silver Dollars are not an ounce either...

 

[Just Jim]

So what will this mean to people who want to sell their silver during a SHTF? Would you trade for something you don't know is real?

jj

 

[One-Eyed Ross]

So what will this mean to people who want to sell their silver during a SHTF? Would you trade for something you don't know is real?

jj

One of the reasons I'll never trade in silver/gold. I can't eat it, shoot it or use it to keep myself warm/dry. It serves no useful purpose, and I won't be giving something up for "silver and gold" in any emergency situation.

 

[Ought Six]

So what will this mean to people who want to sell their silver during a SHTF? Would you trade for something you don't know is real?

jj

According to the blog, it is quite easy to detect the fakes.

 

[MA Duce]

OMG OMG OMG There's CROOKS out there!!!!!!

 

[EZLivin]

So what will this mean to people who want to sell their silver during a SHTF? Would you trade for something you don't know is real? jj

You bring up a good point.

That is one of the major reasons why I don't see ammo as ever being a currency (as some contend it will). Would it be wise to trade something of value for a few rounds of some ammo that one does not know the condition of? You don't know how long it has been stored, under what conditions it has been stored (or not stored at all; just has been going from sweaty pocket to sweaty pocket for months on end), and you don't even know if it contains real powder. Too many "ifs" to make it a viable currency.

I believe whatever crisis occurs, paper currency will not be going away. Some people will trade metals for goods, but the majority will trade metals for currency, which will then be used for commerce. Currency traders will be experts at recognizing real metal from counterfeits, and will facilitate the exchange (benefiting from the spread). The reason I am confident in making this statement is because that is how it is always done. One can look at any recent (or ancient for that matter) example of a currency crisis to see what happened. I'm sure many folks on this board who have visited foreign countries can relate to arriving in a country, and then exchanging some of the currency they had in their pockets for a different currency to be used during their stay. Chances are they did it on the street because the exchange rate was better than they could have received at a bank. Same thing will happen with metals during a crisis (exchange at a metals dealer, or exchange on the street).

 

[moose]

Did you weigh them in troy OZ ? they may not have been 1oz coins either.
I wouldn't assume they are fake. You should get a couple of coin shops to look at them before you do anything with them.

I did, the downtown bellevue shop, there is little doubt they are fake.

Edit: They were never represented to me as being real. I could post some pics, one is a $20 gold piece, supposedly the most counterfitted coin ever.

 

[simpleguy]

This is part of the reason I only buy what I know. Silver Eagles and junk silver from a respected seller. My dealer of choice is Willamette Valley Books and Bullion, I have no doubts Tory there would back his product and buy it back if there were ever a fake.

 

[Grunwald]

EZLivin, I don't think you are correct. I bet you have never experienced anything even remotely resembling hyperinflation. I have not, but have family members who have and trust me when I tell you that when it happens no one wants paper currency. In cases that I am aware of, people wanted foreign currency - US Dollars and German Marks were the favorite, as well the British Pounds.
If the US Dollar goes into a death spiral there is no other currency out there that people here would trust. The Pound is but a shell of it former self. The German Mark is gone. I doubt that Americans would trust the Euro. They might have 5 maybe even 3 years ago, but since Greece and Ireland made the news, that currency is very suspect.

Lets not go overboard with this alarm, just because there is a news story about fake silvers showing up. You're still using the Federal Reserve Notes, and yet how many stories have we heard over the years of forged USD???? Lot more than about fake silver bars or coins.
A silver coin is easily verifiable if you are prepared. All you need is a scale and micrometer or a way to measure liquid displacement.
All metals have a specific density, so the size to weight is constant. If they silver coat iron or steel the coin would be larger to weigh the same. If the use led, than the coin would be smaller.