Counterfeit -- Just a couple of 'half' dollars in a PCGS slab - BEWARE

[Larry]

This is pretty amazing...

http://www.coinnews.net/2009/10/27/pcgs-helps-police-nab-counterfeits-suspect/

[walmann]

As we all know counterfeit coins and "authentic" coins that have been manipulated to turn them into rarer or more "desireable" issues has been a problem for decades. With the abilities of counterfeiters ever evolving and increasingly being able to duplicate the "real" McCoys, a major concern for every collector and the hobby as a whole.

The issue of counterfeit third party certified holders is also an industry killing issue. One of the benefits of the third party grading services has been the peace of mind that a collector is purchasing at the very least an authentic coin even if there may be some grounds for dispute of the assigned grade.

Not only is the benefit of knowing that one has purchased an authentic coin been loss with improved holder counterfeiting, but this opens a new venue of selling authentic coins of clearly lower grades (at least to the seasoned collector) at grades levels and hence higher prices than the coin warrants.

Modern coins are a good example of a prime target market for putting actual undoctored coins into fake holders with grades such as 70 or even 69. The return of purchasing fake holders and selling common coins for these higher grades can be fantastic.

A prime example of massive unwarranted profit from such a scam would be to use the 1999 Delaware silver proof coin as a possible example. In a PCGS holder grade of DCAM 69 not a very expensive coin, can easily obtainable for under $50, in the DCAM 70 Grade the going rate is well over $3000.

Great incentive to take a 69 coin and place it into a holder with the 70 label.