1932 Wreath Crown - Forgery off Ebay

[B1Bamster 0]

I bought a Counterfeit Wreath Crown from ebay recently and it was a scarily good forgery. It should have us all worried - I sent it off to a coin specialist who proved that it was a forgery. I then rang up Spink to let them know but they just said "we already know about the recent Wreath Crown Forgeries". PLEASE BEWARE OF THESE and the avalanche of other forgeries hitting the market. My advice is to specialise in one specific area and become and expert in those type of coins so that you can easily spot a forgery.

[DaveG38 405]

I bought a Counterfeit Wreath Crown from ebay recently and it was a scarily good forgery. It should have us all worried - I sent it off to a coin specialist who proved that it was a forgery. I then rang up Spink to let them know but they just said "we already know about the recent Wreath Crown Forgeries". PLEASE BEWARE OF THESE and the avalanche of other forgeries hitting the market. My advice is to specialise in one specific area and become and expert in those type of coins so that you can easily spot a forgery.

Can we seee some photos and descriptions of what to look for please?

[azda 979]

I'll 2nd that Dave. Maybe we could also Open a pinned thread for known forgeries and what to look for with pics?

[Coinery 1,153]

I'll 2nd that Dave. Maybe we could also Open a pinned thread for known forgeries and what to look for with pics?

God, wouldn't that be useful! So much useful information on this forum just gets swallowed up amongst the thousands of other posts.

[Coinery 1,153]

Just has another thought on the same matter! I think it would be really effective to swamp all known spotted fakes on eBay with questions regarding authenticity. Subtly put...'hi I was just wondering if you can tell me where you got this coin? There are obviously a lot of fakes on eBay, so I'd like to know a little bit more about the coin before bidding' ...a series of these kind of emails, maybe a tad more accusing perhaps?

If we all had a couple of 'copy and paste' standard emails, and each sent a message to these naughty so-and-so's on eBay whenever any forum member identified any fake and marked it in the 'new' fakes thread, I think the item would be pulled on most occasions and likely not relisted. Dah, dah, huge reduction in the confidence of sellers who list fakes!

[Generic Lad 25]

The past 2-3 weeks I've noticed an abnormally large amount of wreath crowns on eBay, the bad part about eBay is a creative enough seller can post pics of a genuine coin... then ship off a fake... While eBay does nearly always side with the buyer on disputes such as that... If someone doesn't realize its a fake, it can get into offline circulation fairly quickly.

[Peckris 579]

I bought a Counterfeit Wreath Crown from ebay recently and it was a scarily good forgery. It should have us all worried - I sent it off to a coin specialist who proved that it was a forgery. I then rang up Spink to let them know but they just said "we already know about the recent Wreath Crown Forgeries". PLEASE BEWARE OF THESE and the avalanche of other forgeries hitting the market. My advice is to specialise in one specific area and become and expert in those type of coins so that you can easily spot a forgery.

Can we seee some photos and descriptions of what to look for please?

I'll 3rd that - we need to see pictures.

[B1Bamster 0]

I bought a Counterfeit Wreath Crown from ebay recently and it was a scarily good forgery. It should have us all worried - I sent it off to a coin specialist who proved that it was a forgery. I then rang up Spink to let them know but they just said "we already know about the recent Wreath Crown Forgeries". PLEASE BEWARE OF THESE and the avalanche of other forgeries hitting the market. My advice is to specialise in one specific area and become and expert in those type of coins so that you can easily spot a forgery.

Can we seee some photos and descriptions of what to look for please?

I'll 3rd that - we need to see pictures.

It was verified as fake by CGS - their reference (or UIN) was 0019679. I've no chance of uploading a pic with maximum allowable file size of 150 K !!

[B1Bamster 0]

I bought a Counterfeit Wreath Crown from ebay recently and it was a scarily good forgery. It should have us all worried - I sent it off to a coin specialist who proved that it was a forgery. I then rang up Spink to let them know but they just said "we already know about the recent Wreath Crown Forgeries". PLEASE BEWARE OF THESE and the avalanche of other forgeries hitting the market. My advice is to specialise in one specific area and become and expert in those type of coins so that you can easily spot a forgery.

Can we seee some photos and descriptions of what to look for please?

I'll 3rd that - we need to see pictures.

It was verified as fake by CGS - their reference (or UIN) was 0019679. I've no chance of uploading a pic with maximum allowable file size of 150 K !!

Never say never - here's a photo of the incompletely struck (or broken) rose.

[Nick 329]

Just has another thought on the same matter! I think it would be really effective to swamp all known spotted fakes on eBay with questions regarding authenticity. Subtly put...'hi I was just wondering if you can tell me where you got this coin? There are obviously a lot of fakes on eBay, so I'd like to know a little bit more about the coin before bidding' ...a series of these kind of emails, maybe a tad more accusing perhaps?

If we all had a couple of 'copy and paste' standard emails, and each sent a message to these naughty so-and-so's on eBay whenever any forum member identified any fake and marked it in the 'new' fakes thread, I think the item would be pulled on most occasions and likely not relisted. Dah, dah, huge reduction in the confidence of sellers who list fakes!

Wouldn't it be useful if there was a facility on eBay to report that an item was fake? Oh wait...

[B1Bamster 0]

Just has another thought on the same matter! I think it would be really effective to swamp all known spotted fakes on eBay with questions regarding authenticity. Subtly put...'hi I was just wondering if you can tell me where you got this coin? There are obviously a lot of fakes on eBay, so I'd like to know a little bit more about the coin before bidding' ...a series of these kind of emails, maybe a tad more accusing perhaps?

If we all had a couple of 'copy and paste' standard emails, and each sent a message to these naughty so-and-so's on eBay whenever any forum member identified any fake and marked it in the 'new' fakes thread, I think the item would be pulled on most occasions and likely not relisted. Dah, dah, huge reduction in the confidence of sellers who list fakes!

Wouldn't it be useful if there was a facility on eBay to report that an item was fake? Oh wait...

I told them it was fake on five occasions but they insisted I send it back to the person who sold it to me. I think the seller had to promise ebay that they would destroy it ... I just saw a pig fly !!!

[Nick 329]

Just has another thought on the same matter! I think it would be really effective to swamp all known spotted fakes on eBay with questions regarding authenticity. Subtly put...'hi I was just wondering if you can tell me where you got this coin? There are obviously a lot of fakes on eBay, so I'd like to know a little bit more about the coin before bidding' ...a series of these kind of emails, maybe a tad more accusing perhaps?

If we all had a couple of 'copy and paste' standard emails, and each sent a message to these naughty so-and-so's on eBay whenever any forum member identified any fake and marked it in the 'new' fakes thread, I think the item would be pulled on most occasions and likely not relisted. Dah, dah, huge reduction in the confidence of sellers who list fakes!

Wouldn't it be useful if there was a facility on eBay to report that an item was fake? Oh wait...

I told them it was fake on five occasions but they insisted I send it back to the person who sold it to me. I think the seller had to promise ebay that they would destroy it ... I just saw a pig fly !!!

I was talking about reporting fakes before the auction has ended, but unfortunately eBay ignores all such reports.

[Coinery 1,153]

Just has another thought on the same matter! I think it would be really effective to swamp all known spotted fakes on eBay with questions regarding authenticity. Subtly put...'hi I was just wondering if you can tell me where you got this coin? There are obviously a lot of fakes on eBay, so I'd like to know a little bit more about the coin before bidding' ...a series of these kind of emails, maybe a tad more accusing perhaps?

If we all had a couple of 'copy and paste' standard emails, and each sent a message to these naughty so-and-so's on eBay whenever any forum member identified any fake and marked it in the 'new' fakes thread, I think the item would be pulled on most occasions and likely not relisted. Dah, dah, huge reduction in the confidence of sellers who list fakes!

Wouldn't it be useful if there was a facility on eBay to report that an item was fake? Oh wait...

I told them it was fake on five occasions but they insisted I send it back to the person who sold it to me. I think the seller had to promise ebay that they would destroy it ... I just saw a pig fly !!!

I was talking about reporting fakes before the auction has ended, but unfortunately eBay ignores all such reports.

I still think multiple emails, asking probing questions would do it! ;-)

[HistoricCoinage 146]

I was talking about reporting fakes before the auction has ended, but unfortunately eBay ignores all such reports.

Unfortunately this is untrue. Any hammered coins that I report with good evidence before the last 24 hours of the auction are removed. I agree that this might be different with milled coins but many I have reported have also been removed.

[HistoricCoinage 146]

Unfortunately this is untrue. Any hammered coins that I report with good evidence before the last 24 hours of the auction are removed. I agree that this might be different with milled coins but many I have reported have also been removed.

As a note, it often seems to depend upon whether the eBay support staff can see exactly what you point out. Which is why it's easier with hammered coins, I suppose as the fakes tend to be a lot more noticeable with the likes of WRL and odd pewter-textures compared to some deceptively-good milled fakes.

[azda 979]

I bought a Counterfeit Wreath Crown from ebay recently and it was a scarily good forgery. It should have us all worried - I sent it off to a coin specialist who proved that it was a forgery. I then rang up Spink to let them know but they just said "we already know about the recent Wreath Crown Forgeries". PLEASE BEWARE OF THESE and the avalanche of other forgeries hitting the market. My advice is to specialise in one specific area and become and expert in those type of coins so that you can easily spot a forgery.

Can we seee some photos and descriptions of what to look for please?

I'll 3rd that - we need to see pictures.

It was verified as fake by CGS - their reference (or UIN) was 0019679. I've no chance of uploading a pic with maximum allowable file size of 150 K !!

You can also use photobucket to host your coin and Paste the link in your reply

[Peter 615]

The most I have spent on a coin from Ebay is £200.

I know what I'm buying and a detailed research is always made.

Anything under £100 I'm prepared to take an educated risk.

I bought a Henry V1 groat this morning which is Calais mint and without annulets.

From a known dealer,done the research...Looks good pewter and the MM R is well struck up.

[Gary D 76]

I bought a Counterfeit Wreath Crown from ebay recently and it was a scarily good forgery. It should have us all worried - I sent it off to a coin specialist who proved that it was a forgery. I then rang up Spink to let them know but they just said "we already know about the recent Wreath Crown Forgeries". PLEASE BEWARE OF THESE and the avalanche of other forgeries hitting the market. My advice is to specialise in one specific area and become and expert in those type of coins so that you can easily spot a forgery.

Can we seee some photos and descriptions of what to look for please?

I'll 3rd that - we need to see pictures.

It was verified as fake by CGS - their reference (or UIN) was 0019679. I've no chance of uploading a pic with maximum allowable file size of 150 K !!

Never say never - here's a photo of the incompletely struck (or broken) rose.

What am I looking at, I have a couple of crowns with a bit of wear were the roses look no different to that.

[Nick 329]

I was talking about reporting fakes before the auction has ended, but unfortunately eBay ignores all such reports.

Unfortunately this is untrue. Any hammered coins that I report with good evidence before the last 24 hours of the auction are removed. I agree that this might be different with milled coins but many I have reported have also been removed.

Sadly (for me and the eventual buyer), none of the fakes that I have reported have ever been removed.