NOTE: Jack D. Young is a researcher, numismatic author and founder of the “Dark Side” Counterfeits and Fakes Facebook watch group. He is one of the country’s leading experts on fake coins and has worked with several government agencies, including the Secret Service. Young started collecting as a youth, filling a Lincoln penny board with his grandmother, and continues to collect low-grade early large cents. We are honored to have Young as a contributor to Proxiblog–so much so, that you will be able to find Young’s articles under the “Archives” tab.
By Jack D. Young, Proxiblog Contributor
I recently wrote an article on a counterfeit 1916-D Merc dime in a fake PCGS holder but with a new twist! Love the twists, this one apparently used a Great Collections sticker from a different coin and slapped it on the fake to add credibility to theirs…
The image of the GC “stickered” coin follows:
Past eBay listing images: counterfeit coin, “PCGS” slab /GC label
The QR coded stick-on label looks like this for the actual coin sold, and was for a 1926-D Merc:
Genuine Great Collections QR coded auction lot label
So on to the main subject of this article, this rather common counterfeit 1881-CC Morgan in a fake “PCGS” slab and the original Bay listing:
eBay listed counterfeit 1881-CC Morgan and fake “PCGS” holder.
Interesting that it was listed on the Bay under “China Empire.”
Label font and barcode immediately look off, and the barcode did not scan; the reverse QR code is interesting, as it appears to be a GreatCollections tag but scans as many of these fakes to the PCGS “CN” site:
The PCGS online cert shows an image of the genuine coin as well as a past auction listing:
PCGS online cert for the genuine certified example
Image comparisons of the subject example as follows:
Subject example (left) to the genuine one (right)
Subject example (left) to the genuine one (right)
So, the counterfeiters have progressed to also faking a Great Collections auction label, although they didn’t use the genuine QR code at this time.
Counterfeit GC label (left) versus genuine one (right)
Again, the counterfeit QR code takes one to China, the GC one to their actual auction listing for the genuine coin.
Current Great Collections auction for the genuine coin
And the counterfeiters are doing this one “real time” and turning out a revised/ updated counterfeit product while the latest auction is still running!
I posted this one on PCGS’ CU forum and received this response:
Having trouble keeping up? Don’t feel lonely! The counterfeiters and scam artists keep evolving and we need to work even harder to try to at least keep even with them unfortunately.
My Group and I will continue to work to spot and document these mounting threats to the Hobby, as education appears to be our lone weapon in this fight; it is unfortunate that there appears to be little being done to actually curb the tide of bad entering the marketplace…
But I am encouraged contributing future articles on Proxiblog as an expanded means to get the word out!
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