Fake SILVER

[rollsroy9]

I did a couple of hours of research last night to find out just what the common fakes were and needless to say I was a bit surprised. I know most of you already know the commonly faked bars and rounds but I will re-post them just to get a full list. Last night was the first time I had even bothered to look at this type of stuff so that should tell you just how easily these items are found when you know where to look.

All the bars I could find are 1oz bars so buying larger bars should be a safer bet. Some of the companies sell them as dull silver bars and some as highly polished proof silver bars.
Stagecoach bars with the 1/4oz splits on the back.
Pan American Silver Corp
"1oz .999 Fine Silver" Under a scale on the front "Worth Its Weight In Silver" on back
Sunshine Minting
American Flag Bar
Canadian Maple Leaf
1984 Englehard Prospector Rounds

The only fake ASE's that I have been able to find are the year 2000 so pay close attention if you are getting that year. Some of the companies have even gotten the Proof finish down pretty well too. I am sure different years will pop up but out of a handful of companies I could find they only offered the year 2000.

The coins are where it gets kind of scary since I never knew it was this widespread. Every single Morgan, Peace, and older dollar with every mint mark are commonly faked. All older commemorative halves are faked. All Barber, Walking Liberty, and older halves with all mint marks are being faked. All Quarters pre-Washington are faked and the following Washington's are being faked also (each year listed includes all mint marks) 1932, 1936, 1939, 1954, and 1964. All Barber and older dimes are being faked. The Mercury's are faked too but at $25 a pop its cheaper to buy the real ones.

The easiest way to tell on the bars/rounds/ASE's is by weight since even though all of the companies claim that their weight is accurate alot of their customers are saying otherwise so always bring a scale with you when buying any type of silver. As for the coins all of these companies will "antique" their silver coins. To anyone who has handled a decent amount of real tarnished silver these coins won't look right. The biggest giveaway is there will almost always be a dark ring around the outside of the front of the coin. I have a fake chinese silver coin which shows this perfectly and if I can figure out how to post pictures on here I will upload it and add it to this post.

Sorry if I rambled on a bit but I just couldn't believe what I found with a few hours worth of work. Figured if I was going to have a first post on here might as well make it count since these fakes are out there and they are pretty common but you can spot them if paying close attention.

[fasteddy]

And there you have it...stack the roos....Thanks for the informative post and welcome to the madness.

[68Camaro]

Great first post! This will be a moving target but its great to have an idea of the current state.

[natsb88]

The Mercury's are faked too but at $25 a pop its cheaper to buy the real ones.

Fake Mercs are less than $2 each, even in very small quantities. I ordered a fake Peace, Morgan, Washington quarters, WL halves, and Merc dimes. Probably won't get them for a month or so.

According to FedEx, my fake silver bars should be delivered tomorrow. Less than an hour to find a Chinese supplier, send them a message, get a response, and send a PayPal payment. Then three days for delivery (from China). NWT could learn something from these guys

[rollsroy9]

Forgot to list a few.
2012 Silver Krugerands
$10 Kookabura with bird, koala, or dragon on the back (didn't see the dragon one but they had it listed as one they had in stock)
$5 Canada 2012 Moose, Wolf, Cougar
$2 Fiji 2012 Taku Hawksbill
1912-2012 Queen Elizabeth 2 Titanic comm. coin
Also alot of foreign coins from the 1700's-early 1800's from Germany and Vienna especially but there were others.
And as I am sure everyone knows, any Silver that has anything to do with China haha

I also looked around for the fake PCGS and NGC holders and I couldn't find them anywhere so they are not as common as the rest of this stuff at least.

[johnbrickner]

Just found this thread and finished reading it's entire length. This among other reasons is why I am here. Straight people, straight talk, telling it like it is and more. Additionally, you've got others who will go above and beyond (Thanx Nate in this specific case) for the benefit of all.

And this is but one example. Kudos to you all and the part you play here regardless of how big or small. A finer community of individuals (facilitating, assisting, teaching, giving, self-policing, _____ you fill in the blank as I've run out of words,) I don't know.

Who knows where I'm going to be, what I'll be doing or when the collapse will happen but when it does, my sincere desire would be to surround myself with the community of RealCenters. No doubt in my mind this community would not only survive, it would thrive.

Additionaly, I Honor those who created and founded this place we frequent. Were it not for your dedicated time & effort it would not exist.

Humbly,

Brick

[rollsroy9]

I must have missed the cheap merc's sorry could only find one source and they were $4 each with $20 shipping per item.

[natsb88]

I must have missed the cheap merc's sorry could only find one source and they were $4 each with $20 shipping per item.

I ordered three at $1.90 - $2.00 each with free shipping. But it will probably take at least a month to get them.

There are coins in fake PCGS holders as well, but I didn't look too closely at those. I don't know much about them and don't have anything to compare them to.

There are also fake key date Morgans made from real 90% silver. Fake 1909VDB-S pennies. Full sets of fake Mercs and WL halves.

And remember that this is just the stuff that has made it all the way to what is essentially direct internet retail from China. I'm sure there are plenty of additional versions being made that aren't as easy to locate and buy like this.

[Robarons]

Just to be clear it seems any old 999 silver seems to be safe. Like Happy Labor day 1974, Merry Christmas 1983, etc,'

I have lots of old 999 silver from 1970-1980's that seem to be forgotten by the Chinese market. Like a Silver K-Rand from 1972 and National Refiners bars with horological signs on them
There seems to be a bounty of this kind of stuff

[TwoPenniesEarned]

To me this is a total game changer. I'm wondering if the diameter of the fakes is equivalent to real Maples and Eagles, in which case you could easily have one or two polluting your tube and not know it. Will every coin now need to be weighed and callipered? Certainly takes the fun out of the transaction.

Anyone heard about whether CDN 80% is still safe?

[beauanderos]

Anyone heard about whether CDN 80% is still safe?

you would think so, at this point in time... along with Mercs and all the Barber series

[coppertone]

I buy most of my silver an E-Bay. This concerns me.

[natsb88]

Anyone heard about whether CDN 80% is still safe?

you would think so, at this point in time... along with Mercs and all the Barber series

I ordered three [fake Mercs] at $1.90 - $2.00 each with free shipping. But it will probably take at least a month to get them.

There is also a full set of 74 Barber dimes for $139.

I have no idea what the quality is like on this stuff yet. The older stuff seems to be faked more than the newer stuff. I have not seen any fake Bens, Kennedys, or Roosies advertised yet.

[Bluegill]

Anyone heard about whether CDN 80% is still safe?

If it's non-numi "junk", probably. But, along with the ML's, numi Canadian coins are being counterfeited. Both Ag and base metal.

http://canadiancounterfeits.numissociety.com/index.php

There is also a counterfeit 1948 dollar that still has IND : IMP on the obverse. I can't find the link, but there was talk that the 1935 dollar coin was also a target of the counterfeiters.

[SteelCityCopper]

To me this is a total game changer. I'm wondering if the diameter of the fakes is equivalent to real Maples and Eagles, in which case you could easily have one or two polluting your tube and not know it. Will every coin now need to be weighed and callipered? Certainly takes the fun out of the transaction.

Anyone heard about whether CDN 80% is still safe?

Talk about total game changer... how about fake NGC and PCGS slabs?

[beauanderos]

The Mercury's are faked too but at $25 a pop its cheaper to buy the real ones.

Fake Mercs are less than $2 each, even in very small quantities. I ordered a fake Peace, Morgan, Washington quarters, WL halves, and Merc dimes. Probably won't get them for a month or so.

According to FedEx, my fake silver bars should be delivered tomorrow. Less than an hour to find a Chinese supplier, send them a message, get a response, and send a PayPal payment. Then three days for delivery (from China). NWT could learn something from these guys

Nate... I hope they don't just keep your money and send you nothing. What could you do? This could be a scam!

[natsb88]

The Mercury's are faked too but at $25 a pop its cheaper to buy the real ones.

Fake Mercs are less than $2 each, even in very small quantities. I ordered a fake Peace, Morgan, Washington quarters, WL halves, and Merc dimes. Probably won't get them for a month or so.

According to FedEx, my fake silver bars should be delivered tomorrow. Less than an hour to find a Chinese supplier, send them a message, get a response, and send a PayPal payment. Then three days for delivery (from China). NWT could learn something from these guys

Nate... I hope they don't just keep your money and send you nothing. What could you do? This could be a scam!

I received the fakes bars and rounds today. I'll try to get some comparison shots up in the next few days. I will be doing a more extensive report and hopefully some videos on my site a little later.

Actually the way I ordered the 90% stuff, they don't get paid until I report that I have received the items on time and as described.

[NJstacker22]

I buy most of my silver an E-Bay. This concerns me.

This can be risky. I hope you deal with reputable people on eBay

Also, I hope you don't pay the ridiculous premiums that some people charge on eBay, too! But somehow, someway, people pay it... I'll never understand.

[silverstacker]

I think the only way to be safe is buying solid date eagle rolls (or whatever) from some of the Big online dealers. You buy anything second-hand... there's risks involved. LCS dealers are getting faked out all the time by how good the counterfeits are becoming.

Ray, 2 years ago you posted this and here I come 2 years later with a fake LCS story on PAMP bars. I'm so behind the times. Trying to read past posts so I can to learn more and see what topics have been discussed already.

The more I learn the more I realize how much I don't know