Lots of fake Irish 1985 20p coins being offered

CollectorsShop

Hi,

Just a warning to all of you buyers / collectors out there ... I am being offered fake 1985 20p coins on a weekly basis at the moment.

Be careful.

Blade

There's fakes of all the key dates and even non key dates. A good few of the 1943 half crowns have been sold on ebay as genuine and fetched into the hundreds. But despite have reported them to ebay, nothing was ever done about it. You just have to be careful and learn about how to spot them. But I think anyone serious enough looking to buy a genuine 1985 20p will know damn well they won't find one for 100 euro and will have it checked out before buying it.

CollectorsShop

Anyone who buys a 1985 20p for €100 should know better, so I am not too concerned about that. The real problem arises when they give the fake to someone else and the third party goes to a dealer / auction house hoping to sell it - they think they are being ripped off when they are told its a fake !

The people who are doing this are part of an organised crime gang.

No one should buy from them.

Every sale = encouragement to fake more,
so it is up to collectors everywhere to unite against eBay and these criminals and just say NO

CollectorsShop

The same policy should apply to fake medals on eBay.

I see fake 1916 Rising medals, fake War of Independence medals and fake Fianna Eireann medals for sale.
If eBay is not prepared to act responsibly, then Sellers should be publicly shamed via the messaging app on eBay.

filbert the fox

CollectorsShop wrote: »

Hi,

Just a warning to all of you buyers / collectors out there ... I am being offered fake 1985 20p coins on a weekly basis at the moment.

Be careful.

Is anything precious ?

Although, the sales of fake merchandise would lead one to conclude that it doesn't matter.

CollectorsShop

Sadly, it seems that short term profit (from sellers fees) is more important to eBay than long term survival of collecting hobbies.

If these counterfeiters are allowed to prosper, collectors will suffer since the appearance of one fake in a collections casts doubt on the authenticity of all other pieces in the collection.

Blade

CollectorsShop wrote: »

The people who are doing this are part of an organised crime gang.

That's simply not true. They are replica coins and in most cases sold as such, it's only criminal when someone tries to sell them as genuine. There's replica coins for most countries in the World, it's only in the last couple of years that the Irish one have popped up. There's no point giving out or trying to fight it, there's replicas of most areas of collectibles and antiques etc. It's up to anyone who specialises in a certain area to be able to tell the difference. It's a pain I know and up to recently we didn't really need to worry much about fake Irish coins like people have been doing for years with those of other countries, but now we just have to be more careful.

CollectorsShop

Blade,

They are being sold as genuine coins and that is deception, i.e. a crime.

Replica coins have "replica" or "reproduction" stamped on them - the sellers of these 20p coins are not selling replicas, they are selling them as genuine items to anyone unfortunate enough not to know the difference.

And, yes, the people that I am talking about are a criminal gang, i.e. they make their living out of illegal activities, incl. theft, burglary, and handling stolen property, etc.

Blade

Don't you know where these coins come from? Cause it's certainly not from any criminal gang. Besides I can't see any criminal gang in Ireland making money from selling fake 1985 20p coins when everyone knows there's only a handful of genuine ones in existence. Take a look at Adverts I'm sure there's a few advertised there as replicas. Like I said, it's only criminal to sell them as genuine and anyone foolish enough to buy one thinking it's real without having it checked quite frankly deserves what they get, same way if they bought a fake Rolex off some stranger down the pub.

That's the way it is now, we just have to get used to it.

CollectorsShop

Typical Irish attitude - blame the victim and do nothing to stop the criminal !
I get phonecalls from the victims and suggest they get in touch with their local GARDA
... who probably have easier things to to do
- like issue parking tickets and speeding fines.

Blade

"Criminals", "Gangs", "Organised crime", you really are over-dramatising this aren't you. The fact that you posted only about the 20p 1985 and none of the others, two years after they've hit the market would suggest you really don't know much about them or where they actually come from.

Here, why don't you report this "Criminal" to the "GARDA" while you're at it:
http://www.adverts.ie/coins/ireland-coin-reproductions/9105027

Seriously you need to get used to the fact that they're here to stay, like the ones from practically every other country in the World, and just educate yourself in how to spot them, it's not that difficult!

CollectorsShop

For someone that posts disparaging remarks about Irish coin dealers, you're really "soft" on Irish coin counterfeiters.

These fakes are causing serious harm to Irish coin collecting - selling fake coins as genuine collectibles is a serious matter.

Selling them as "reproductions" is not as serious but it is still a problem.

Adverts.ie, eBay and every other "middleman" in coin sales needs to act responsibly and ban the listing of such items.

They are a blight on our hobby.

Esel

CollectorsShop wrote: »

For someone that posts disparaging remarks about Irish coin dealers, you're really "soft" on Irish coin counterfeiters.

These fakes are causing serious harm to Irish coin collecting - selling fake coins as genuine collectibles is a serious matter.

Selling them as "reproductions" is not as serious but it is still a problem.

Adverts.ie, eBay and every other "middleman" in coin sales needs to act responsibly and ban the listing of such items.

They are a blight on our hobby.

Hobby (horse) or Shop - which is it?

Gun_money

Any Fake or reproduction coins are bad for the hobby as a whole. This has been going on since coins were first made.
I bought these reproductions as I collect fake and reproduced coinage. Plus the having these coins is a safe guard for the future in if and when you come across these coins, you will know what to look out for. I'm sure dealers and auction houses will be dealing with these for may years to come. And worse still those with the real coins have to prove that they are the real deal........

Safe to say if it is to good to be true the it normally is.

CollectorsShop

The sad thing is that most of the people bringing these fakes to me are under the impression that they are real, i.e. they have been conned.

They have either bought them as a result of a scammer claiming they were real,
or they inherited them from someone who never told them they were fakes.

Saying that they ought to know better, or deserve to be conned out of their money is not a good philosophy. All reputable auctions withdraw lots when they are notified about a fake - why does eBay not do likewise? Is eBay somehow exempt from ethics and morality?

Trust is a very transient thing and allowing these fakers to ply their illicit trade does nothing for numismatics or coin collecting as a whole.

I am shocked to see how little sympathy some collectors have for their fellow collectors.

Blade

CollectorsShop wrote: »

The sad thing is that most of the people bringing these fakes to me are under the impression that they are real, i.e. they have been conned.

How much did these people pay for them and what were they bringing them into you for?

CollectorsShop

They wanted their coins valued - mostly for probate purposes, i.e. they had inherited them.

They saw my article on the Irish 1985 20p coin and wondered if they had a genuine one, or not. I have a policy of always helping people, regardless of whether they want to sell or not. I always assume the caller is genuine.

Some wanted to sell but, since I do not have a customer for that type of coin, I refer them to Whyte's auction whenever I find one that is genuine. Even after commission, sellers of 1985 20p coins usually get more at auction, so I recommend Ian.

Obviously, there a lot of sellers that try to get me to make an offer - despite my protestation that I have "absolutely no interest" in buying one. When someone offers a valuable coin cheaply, there is usually something wrong, i.e. fake or stolen !

These guys are gangsters, i.e. despite the fact that I have recommended Ian's auction, they insist they want a quick cash sale. Their number is always withheld, and this type of seller gets very annoyed when I refuse to even give them a price.

I'm sure you know the type of person I am referring to.