greatgoldcoins.net » Scams

Scams on Gold Coins

keith — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 10:32:25 +0000

While everyone seem to be involved in a Gold Rush Silver has been steadily growing in worth .
Although Silver is still growing in value it will probably continue growing in value.
One investor tried to corner the market in silver but was eventually thwarted.

Scams on Gold Coins

when buying or selling gold coins,look out for gold coin scams
Selling - when you are selling a gold coin (or coins) how do you know who is bidding on your coins?
Usually you cannot.
Ebay has a problem here in that they want to avoid direct selling between buyer and seller and then they lose their commission.
So they try to keep buyers details secret.
You on the other hand want to find out if they buyer is real or is using a stolen ebay account.
(I had this happen to me with a gold bracelet)
First thing to do is check the LOCATION of the buyer from their ebay about me page.
Thieves usually choose to use a stolen account from a different country.
First thing to do is to write to a successful bidder asking them to confirm that they have actally made a bid !
You MUST do this through the eBay communication system.
When this happened to me the buyer was in Manchester England but the actual owner of the account was in Australia !
She was very surprised and we cancelled the transaction.
The thief still went ahead and made a bid on the same item again when I re-listed it ! He was subsequently banned from eBay of course.
Moral of story -
ONLY send valuable items AFTER you have checked that the buyer has made a bid and ONLY send them to the PAYPAL Address.
If you fail to do this then wave bye-bye to both the goods AND the money (as Paypal will deduct the funds from your account too)
Then you will lose out twice.

When BUYING on ebay make the same checks in reverse.
the Seller MUST be in the same location as the Paypal address (people steal Paypal accounts too !)

If you fall for this scam then you also risk the thief stealing YOUR eBay and Paypal accounts too.
Just be careful out there !

One simple scam that was tried on me in Paris last week in one of the passages (rows of 18th century shops)

A fairly pretty girl aproached me grasping a gold ring - she claimed she had just found at the entrance to the street - I congratulated her (in my best French) and suggested that as she was having lucky day she should buy a lotto ticket !

This scam is fairly simple - the ring is offered to you for 10 or 20 $ but it is not the ring you end up with.
The Girl switches rings on you and you end up with a brass ring !
I've seen the same con worked all over the world.

Most scams on gold coins operate on a similar basis - you are offered an impossibly good bargain - and you end up with the equivalents of a brass ring.

If it looks too good to be true - it almost aways is !
That is the basis of all scams on gold coins (or gold rings !)

One of the other things to lok out for is expensive gold coins being sold on a PRIVATE SALE (this is where the public cannot see the identity of the seller or the buyer.)

I would personally avoid such auctions as there is no practical way to idenity the seller without a good deal of time and trouble (scam artists motto is usually take the money and run - so they will not even be there when you eventually get their addrss !
While the sellers say that this is to protect the buyer (and to a degree that is true !) in actuality the seller is even more protected.

articles expanded on the same theme

http://greatgoldcoins.net/nazi-fake-coins/

http://greatgoldcoins.net/scams-on-gold-coins/

http://greatgoldcoins.net/identifying-fakes-and-forgeries/ The following are genuine auctions from ebay !

★ 1878 CC Morgan Silver Dollar GEM BU RARE MS Uncirculated Coin ★
US $1,765.00

2012 Topps Series 1 Baseball Box Break Grab Bag 1 Oakland A’s
US $3.23

1995 W GOLD $500 OLYMPIC STADIUM PERFECT BU NGC MS70 CERTIFIED
US $2,999.95

★ 1882 O S Morgan Silver Dollar GEM BU RARE MS Coin ★
US $1,465.00

California Gold Token 1853 Uncirculated
US $2.99

1904 Morgan Silver Dollar SOLID GEM BU BETTER DATE
US $382.00

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German Gold Coins

keith — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 09:29:58 +0000

German Gold Coins are a little confusing -especially early ones.
Early Gold Coins

Before unification, Germany was a number of individual states each of which minted its own German Gold coins.
Most of these were Silver coins and only about 40 states issued their own gold coins
These varied in size and some were fractional coins.
Indeed some states combined and used interchangeable gold coins whereas others used coins the same size as other countries to enable easier trade.
Because of this you may well see Ducats, Thalers,Gulden,Pistoles Franken etc.
This meant that a trader from Bavaria would be able to trade easily in the Neherlands , Switzerland or a dozen different countries.

19th Century Gold Coins
Prussia had its own 20 Mark Gold Coins for Wilhelm (1861 to 1888)
and for Wilhem IInd (1888 to 1918- although gold coins ceased production in 1915)

There were three Gold German Coins available
All were of .900 Fineness.
The 5 Mark Gold Coin was 16mm across and weighed .0576 of a Troy Ounce
The 10 Mark Gold Coin was 19.5 mm across and weighed .1152 of a Troy Ounce
The most popular investors coin however was the 20 Mark Gold Coin
The 20 Mark Gold Coin was 22.5mm across and weighed .2304 of a Troy ounce
Production of Gold Marks ended officially in 1915
The Mark was known as the Goldmark and was on a gold standard with 2790 Marks being equal to 1 Kilogram of pure Gold.
German Gold Coins were known to have been minted in
Baden,
Bavaria,
Hamburg,
Prusia,
Regensburg,
Saxony,
Wuerttemburg

Gold plated 1 German Mark 1990 inserted into silver plated large coin
US $19.99

1 Troy Oz 999 Buffalo Silver Mint Clad Sealed Limited Edition Art Bullion Bar
US $9.99

RARE NR 1oz 999 24K German Nazi 3rd Reich Deutsche Post WW2 Gold Clad Bar Coin
US $7.77

24carat GOLD Nazi German 1 Reichspfennig 1937 F Coin WWII ERA
US $4.25

SALE NR 1oz 999 24K post German Nazi 3rd Reich Deutsche WW2 Gold Clad Bar Coin
US $3.33

German Third Reich 1939B Two Reichspfennig Great Coin RARE
US $3.25

Between 1915 and the outbreak of WWII paper money was used and the subsequent debasement of the paper currency lead to German people needing a wheelbarrow to carry enough money to buy a loaf of bread

More Recent Gold Coins

Nazi Gold Plated Coins are known from the Third Reich era
These usually show an Eagle over a swastika
Theses coins are not of high value.
Warning these are sometimes offered as *GOLD* but they are only plated (usually thinly)

In more modern times there are some Gold 1 mark coins which were issued in 2001
as a commemorative issue
These are very much valued by collectors in Germany as this was related to the retiremnt
of the mark as Currency.

After Germany adopted the Euro as currency, special 1/2 ounce (100 Euro) and 1 ounce (200 Euro) coins wew issued
These were issued in 2002.
A Gold Proof coin of Bamberg was issued with a face value of 100 Euro this was in 2004.

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Feedback on Coins

keith — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 09:09:14 +0000

While the world seem to be in the middle of a Gold Rush Silver has been steadily growing in value .
Although Silver is still growing in value it will probably never reach the dizzy heights of gold.
One investor tried to corner the market in silver but was eventually foiled .

Feedback on coins is very easy to confuse.
Feedback is the main thing that you as a buyer have to check the bona fides of the vendor.

The main problem is that it is relatively easy to get good feedback for a vendor.
All that he or she has to do is buy a number of low value items for 99 cent or so.
This way anyone can get reasonable feedback for just a couple of hundred dollars.

When you are thinking of buying gold coins however you want to be REALLY sure that the vendor is genuine.

1874 Indian Head Penny NEAR GEM BU GEM BU RED BROWN
US $169.49

LOT2011 W PR69 $5 Bullion Hlf Egl PCGS 1923 $1 Lrg Fnybck Slvr Cert F
US $229.50

2Two 1 Gram 999 Fine Silver Eagle Bar 20 Vials of Gold Flakes
US $24.99

1909 $25 GOLD Indian Quarter Eagle CHOICE UNCIRCULATED
US $390.00

Buyers Of Bullion Com Premium Domain Name For Sale Gold Coins Eagles Maples
US $35.00

2012 Gold Coins Com Premium Domain Name For Sale Maples Eagles Buffalos 9999
US $35.00

It is fairly easy to check the vendors feed back - just click on the feedback line in their auction.
What you want to look for is that the vendor has previously sold coins and that the purchaser was happy with the purchase.

Scammers will ONLY have feedback for themselves as buyers not as sellers.
This may well be under 4 or 6 different ebay identities (its fairly easy to have a few ebay identities).
The other thing to look for is the feedback score - look for the RED entries and go through their whole feedback listings and check the each of the sales on those and look at the comments - if they regularly are mistaken about coin condition then they are either very inexperienced or scamming by over valuing the coin.
A Common trick is to say that a coin is a proof coin when it is just uncirculated.

Check the other listing of goods they have sold too - these may well be in various categories.

There is no reason of course not to buy from a private buyer with just a couple of coins to sell and these may well be the best buy of your life !
Private vendors should be emailed and asked about the condition of the coin and if it has been to a reputable grading service.
Many grading services are really just back room jobs and not worth the plastic they are slabbed in .

Gold coins are a favourite item for scammers so please look at the vendors website as this may reassure you.

Slabbing a coin does NOT make it into a Proof Coin.

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Ebay Coin Guides

keith — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 08:59:38 +0000

While the world seem to be involved in a Gold Rush Silver has been steadily growing in value .
Although Silver has not grown at the same rate as gold it will probably never reach the dizzy heights of gold.
One investor tried to corner the market in silver but was eventually foiled .

Coin Collecting Guides

These are really useful guides when buying Gold Coins.
There are some real eye-openers in here !

Buyers beware of misleading sellers

Just a note to all buyers of all coins, especially raw 1/4, and 1/2 eagle, indian gold.....
This is especially true now, because the gold coin market is so hot on Ebay.
Numerous times do I see sellers of raw coins, making claims in their description
of the coin, that, in their opinion the coin is in a mint state,
(MS) condition, when in actuality, the coin they are selling shows signs of....
more from this Guide....

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Investing in Gold coins Double Eagles only way to go

However, not all hard asset investment areas have suffered
the same fate during this period. There is at least one gold investment
sector that has defied the flat gold market.
That sector is rare American gold coins.
We're not referring to common date Double Eagles and similar generic coins.

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Counterfeit Coins identification

keith — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 16:31:21 +0000

While the world seem to be mad for gold Silver has been steadily growing in value .
Although Silver is still growing in value it will probably continue growing in value.
One investor tried to corner the market in silver but was eventually foiled .

Did you know there are over 10,000 different counterfeight coins listed ?
I knew there were SOME but never dreamed it was that much of a problem.

There is lots of information on this site :

http://www.forgerynetwork.com/

Lets face it- there may well be more but this website has images of the 10,000 listed counterfeits so it is well worth a visit.

Thanks for this information to
www.Cointalk.com

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Before You Buy Another Coin

keith — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 15:39:21 +0000

Before you buy another Coin
Apr.30, 2009 in Ancient Coins, Coin Identification, Fake Coins, Gold Coins, scams

I really suggest you should check out a few of the links on my previous post.

I was not aware of a few of these fakes and I would like to try to help you avoid some of the fakes around at present.
Quite a few of the forgeries seem to come from the Far East so I would SERIOUSLY ask that you check out the Feedback for any vendor selling from China.
Notably the Panda Series are often copies.
I have noticed myself fakes of German Nazi Gold Coins (they are base metal gold plated recently) and Trade Dollars (there are more details on he link above)
As for Roman Coins - well I would check out any valuable ones carefully.
A good way to do this is to go onto eBay and do an Advanced Search looking for the same coin you are considering - if more than a couple show up with the same details and especially from the same vendor then it might be wise to look elsewhere.

Another of my websites is www.bestvintage mickey.com and the exact same situation arises with Fake Mickey Mouse rare collectors pins.
A few Chinese factories are really geared up specifically to copy and mass produce rare collectors pins to sell on auction sites.
I assume it is the same factories who have seen the posssiblities of mass producing Trade Dollars and other valuable coins.

http://www.bestvintagemickey.com/Store/disneypins

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10 Tips for Coin Auctions

keith — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 09:07:16 +0000

While the world seem to be mad for gold Silver has been steadily growing in worth .
Although Silver has not grown at the same rate as gold it will probably never reach the dizzy heights of gold.
One investor tried to corner the market in silver but was eventually foiled .

Coin Auctions can be good places to buy or sell coins.
Here are some tips you may not have thought of.

1 * Live Auctions are likely to be the best places to buy.
This is because many such auctions are usually aimed at the US Market and the rest of the coin buying world will be asleep because of geographical location.
Best ones of all are local auctions which do not advertise on the internet. You will have far less competition bidding at these.

2 * Auctions are great places to buy rare coins. Sellers want the best prices they can get and t is usually at auction.

3 * Auctions by mail – possibly good since many people prefer to bid on eBay and get the excitement of a current auction.

Mail Coin Auctions mean you have to sign up for a catalogue and sometimes give the auction credit card details ot ensure that you are a genuine buyer. If you buy from a mail auction you will usually get a free subscription to new auctions or sales (often with illustrated catalogues)

4 * Phone Auctions – these can be auctions by coin companies or (better still) auctions by general antiques auctioneers
These are just like regular auctions where you go along in person and bid. You can usually leave a bid with the auctioneer (the maximimum you will pay for each lot)

5 * Internet Auctions .

Ebay is the best known of these but a number of other companies do hold similar auctions. With any internet auction you must have an internet identity under which you make bids. You can make individual bids or maximum bids for each item and the software at the auction company handles the bidding for you.

6 * With an Internet Auction you will usually be able to contact the vendor with questions and receive an answer the same day.

7 * Internet Auctions last between 1 day (same day) and 30 days depending on the internet auction company.

8 * Fraud is rife on the internet. It is easy for instance for a deceptive vendor to place a listing of a coin or coins that they do not hold or to use a picture of a higher grade coin than the actual one they are selling. Look for the following words in the listing : copy, repro, reproduction, facsimile as all of these mean copy !
Copies are not as valuable as real coins.

9 * To protect yourself as a buyer make sure you ONLY pay by a genuine company such as PAYPAL as you will usually then have an ability to claim against them and the vendor for misleading or false sales.Please avoid paying by company like Western Union as this company and other instant transfer companies are often used by fraudsters at coin auctions

10 * To check a coin out just ask the vendor for a photo of the other side of the coin. If there is no answer then avoid that vendor.The coin may not actually exist.

11* ALWAYS check out a vendors feedback (feedback is the result of previous sales by that vendor) Pay particular attention to NEGATIVE FEEDBACK.
To bid on eBay you need to be registered:

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