I just added a
2013 25th Anniversary Silver Maple to the database, as well as added updated comparisons to current production samples for the
Silvertowne Standard 1 Oz Bar and
Silvertowne Eagle 1 Oz Bar (scary good match here). Several more in the pipeline to be added soon. I also have samples on the way of new counterfeit Pamp Veriscan, APMEX, and RCM gold in assay cards. They all look to be very high caliber fakes.
I hate asking for support, but I'm going to do it here briefly. The site costs money to maintain and host, I have to pay for most of the samples I analyze, and there are some fixed costs associated with maintaining an LLC. This year I also purchased a decent USB microphone and some video editing software to start making videos, and loaned a large box of documented counterfeit samples to the Numismatic Crime Information Center to use in training investigators at a law enforcement conference in Texas.
For 2016 I am a couple hundred dollars in the red, and going back further I still have about $2500 I have yet to recover from the initial entity formation, web development, and securing samples.
I have not been paid a dime for my time, which has been many hundreds of hours. I put as much into the site as I can, but it doesn't pay the bills. More contributions means I can spend more time working on it.
To those of you who have already contributed, a very big thank you!
To those of you who find the site useful and wish to contribute, here are several ways you can help out.
-
Become a Supporting Member. You get to see new entries in the
Fake Bullion Database 60 days before they go public and you can post "does this look fake to you" and related questions and commentary in the Supporting Members Forum. $5/month or $40/year through PayPal, or $150/lifetime through PayPal or mail-in payment.
- If you don't want to join but do want to donate, there is also a plain PayPal Donate button on the page linked above, or you can PM me for an address.
- If your favorite dealer is an advertiser or affiliate with FakeBullion.com, click through their banner on our website before you place your order. It doesn't cost anything extra and it helps support the site. Affiliates currently include
Bullion Exchanges,
SilverGoldBull,
SD Bullion,
Golden Eagle Coins, and
Coin Supply Express. If your favorite dealer isn't listed there, tell them they should be! There are two large dealers that do have affiliate programs but are not yet partnered with FakeBullion.com. One expressed concern about being associated with a site that has "fake" in the domain name, and the other has just ignored my application and emails. Tell your dealers that supporting a site that is trying to educate the industry about a very real problem makes them look
good! For those without affiliate programs, we offer inexpensive pay-per-click advertising.
- And finally, share links to FakeBullion.com on other sites! I have introduced the site on Bullionstacker, Realcent, and SilverStackers, and answered questions in a couple of Reddit threads, but there are many other relevant communities that I don't frequent. If you visit other sites, and the topic of counterfeits pops up, plop a link in there for FakeBullion.com. The more people that visit the site, the more it begins to pay for itself. And if you want me to a mail a postcard to your favorite local coin shop or coin club, send me their address.
Thanks for your support and Happy New Year!
Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2016 3:55 pm
