topic Re: Fake Centenary Florins in Coins, Stamps, Collectables & Antiques

Fake Centenary Florins

canberrafisher — Sat, 30 Aug 2014 16:57:06 GMT

I have been looking at some of the Centenary Florins on here and comparing them with a site giving details on how to tell real ones from the fakes as far back as 2009. Clearly if the advice on how to tell them is accurate..no reason to think it not..a number of current florins for sale here are fakes going for $hundreds when they are worthless. See http://www.australian-threepence.com/blog/2009/11/identifying-a-counterfeit-193435-centenary-florin.html
This is very concerning and I certainly will not buy one here. Except from a known "expert" dealer who do not appear to have these fakes from what I have checked.

Re: Fake Centenary Florins

cq_tech — Sat, 30 Aug 2014 17:51:24 GMT

The odds of finding a genuine rare coin on eBay are slim to none. The only source I'd even consider would be a specialist auction or a reputable coin dealer, and even then I'd want a money-back guarantee in writing.

Re: Fake Centenary Florins

canberrafisher — Sat, 30 Aug 2014 17:55:41 GMT

The above is only MY opinion of course based on the site advice linked. It does not assume people knowingly are trying to sell a fake here as it is not so "clearly" obviously as previously mentioned and many variations appear in the listing pics /quality/ware etc as I finally got through them all and compared to the site pics.....
Also weight seems to be a key if the "how to tell site" is correct....I quote "

"Weight

An uncirculated florin weighs 11.31g and the fake florin weighs 11.10g. Now 0.21g doesn't sound like a lot but you'd be surprised how little weight a coin loses as it wears. We weighed a mid grade (very fine) florin and the weight was 11.27g, so a worn coin with significant detail missing was just 0.04g lighter! Apparently the fake coin is made from something other than silver to show such a large weight difference."

Well that would be difficult online...anyway.....

Re: Fake Centenary Florins

kopenhagen5 — Sat, 30 Aug 2014 22:29:24 GMT

fisher, you make a good point.

For the genuine sellers they will take the time to put in the weight in their listings and then for the buyer should the weight not match the description has 45 days to open the claim if paid by PayPal.

To have that as option specific may be a good suggestion to ebay.

As you say, purchasing from reputable dealers on ebay is the best way of avoiding problems.

Their grading is also going to be far more acurate.

Re: Fake Centenary Florins

jumpydj — Wed, 19 Apr 2017 11:44:30 GMT

Found a seller tonight who has sold 15 fake 1934/35 Centenary Florins so far and has another three selling currently. These are easy to pick chinese fakes as the top of the P & O on the word 'EMPEROR' have a crack or fault in the striking and have been selling for upto $800+ which makes me so mad as ebay are letting these theives get away with this rubbish.

I don't know if ebay lets us expose these ripoff merchants in these forums as I would like to warn others as to who these people are?

Re: Fake Centenary Florins

kopenhagen5 — Wed, 19 Apr 2017 12:23:10 GMT

eBay can't vet or police millions of listings. And they don't allow naming n shaming on the forums.

But you can post an item number for us to see if we think it is fake or not.

Re: Fake Centenary Florins

siddieswans — Wed, 19 Apr 2017 12:47:34 GMT

I am sure from what you have already posted that anyone reading these exchanges could pinpoint the items you are concerned about. And although as regards coins "I (wouldn't) know a hawk from a handsaw" even I can see that all those 10+ coins sold in the last 2 months have exactly the same fault as you described - and really, they look nowhere near as good as the other similar coins which I assume are correct. Makes you wonder what people who are buying them are thinking - or are those sales for real??? It would seem that in the last couple of days the sales of the 1934/35 Centenary Florins has been changed to a private listing - so that bidders' ID are not shown. Hmmm.

Re: Fake Centenary Florins

jumpydj — Tue, 02 May 2017 15:54:50 GMT

Hey all,

Have found a zero feedback seller that has several 1934/35 centenary florins, 1938 crowns and other florins that are all fakes and has just used the same photo for multi listings. Have reported most of them as copies/fakes but not holding my breath for ebay to remove them. Going to see another batch of uneducated buyers throwing away their harned earned on **bleep**.

I don't know how some people sleep at night?

Re: Fake Centenary Florins

go-tazz — Sat, 06 May 2017 10:26:32 GMT

@siddieswans wrote:
It would seem that in the last couple of days the sales of the 1934/35 Centenary Florins has been changed to a private listing - so that bidders' ID are not shown. Hmmm.

It's what scammers tend to do when they know that they'll start receiving negative feedback from a high number

of buyers,(it allows them to keep the scam going if buyers don't look at the feedback percentage),

Re: Fake Centenary Florins

collect247 — Thu, 11 May 2017 23:46:25 GMT

Not really, you need to mention on these boards and hopefully some will read the posts that there are tests that you can do to find out if they are fake and I'm sure that the buyers of these coins would be in the know about these coins otherwise why bother buying them.

And if you test them and find out they are fake then you open an INAD.

There is one particular seller that actually states these coins are just tokens and you would think that a buyer knows what token means?

Re: Fake Centenary Florins

jumpydj — Thu, 10 Aug 2017 11:36:08 GMT

They are still going with this listing 322637687096 and the other ones they have are also fakes as well as the NGC slabbed gold kangaroo coin which I have contacted NGC about.

I have placed a couple of my own florin listings for buyers to read to identify the fakes and have had a number of buyers contacting me to thank me as they were bidding on or going to bid on the fake coins so saved a few of them from losing their money.

Unfortunately there are still so many getting scammed every day.

Re: Fake Centenary Florins

cp-coins — Mon, 30 Oct 2017 08:38:53 GMT

The 34-35 Centenary florin that recently sold for $651 is obviously fake to an experienced eye.

There are guides to help discern the differences between known fakes and genuine coins and they are excellent, but those of us that have been collecting coins for several decades know what the real thing looks like - and from what I see on eBay today - some are rubbish and some are genuine. It takes a few seconds to spot a fake and it's the obverse that tells the story.

The scammers buy the slabs here:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1-PCS-Lot-New-High-Quality-PCCB-PROFESSIONAL-COIN-DISPLAY-SLAB-Coin-collecting-Storage-Box-Identification/32660535028.html

They buy the fake coin here:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1934-35-Australian-Centenary-Florin-George-V-UNC/755339616.html

..and the rest is history.

I see 'Gold Krugerrands' selling for about $1800 which are gold plated tungsten garbage.

I also see a skilfully crafted 1d 1930 penny forgery which is acording to the seller 'genuine' and is actually 'not geniune'.

eBay's policy is caveat emptor.

Re: Fake Centenary Florins

cp-coins — Thu, 14 Dec 2017 06:20:39 GMT

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Australian-1934-35-Florin-UNC-VERY-nice-coin-GREAT-INVESTMENT-YEARS-TO-COME/322934049406?hash=item4b305e8a7e

The bull**bleep** never ends

Re: Fake Centenary Florins

yeoldecoinco — Tue, 02 Jan 2018 04:21:27 GMT

That 2009 article in the coin blog used coins supplied by me.

I noticed a seller with over 100 Melbourne Centenary florins and 1938 crowns listed and thought, hang on, no-one has these sort of quantities of these rare coins. As a long time dealer, I usually only handle 10-20 Melb florins and 1938 crowns in an entire year.

Back then, you could see who had bought from the seller and contact them, so I did.

Several were customers of mine or knew me, and I got them to post to me for examination several Melbourne Centenary florins and 1938 crowns this person had sold them.

All were fakes and this person had sold dozens of them and NO-ONE had picked it up.

As regards to weight. Melb Centenary florins nearly always come along in higher grades, and have lost virtually no weight to wear.

They were saved by the public and not spent, because they cost three shillings to buy on a two shilling face value. They always weigh in the range of about 11.27 to 11.31 grams.

There are some professional dealers and good sellers on eBay.

There are also a lot of shonks, rouges and crooks, that spoil it for everyone.

Buy rare coins from professionals. You pay a bit more, but at least you usually get what you paid for..

Re: Fake Centenary Florins

cp-coins — Tue, 02 Jan 2018 06:55:06 GMT

Any experienced collector of AU predecimal coins can spot a fake 34 Centenary in 10 seconds, probably less.

The current situation is disgusting.

Three 'dealers' currently trading two of whom have large 100% feedback scores are career criminals.

ALL Australian coins remain legal tender despite being withdrawn from circulation and federal police will be saying hi to certain people on eBay soon enough.

Re: Fake Centenary Florins

yeoldecoinco — Wed, 24 Jan 2018 05:05:17 GMT

Bought five fakes from China, $1 each posted.

Weight 8.78 grams each, good detail, shiny.

With a bit of tone applied, difficult for the novice to tell, although clearly underweight.

Re: Fake Centenary Florins

cristbow — Sun, 25 Feb 2018 06:46:36 GMT

Check out item no. 332564017512. Sure its a fake 1934/35 florin. Bids finish in 4 hrs and already up to $90 or so. Check it out please.

Re: Fake Centenary Florins

cp-coins — Sun, 25 Feb 2018 08:16:03 GMT

Yeah that's a fake.

Re: Fake Centenary Florins

kopenhagen5 — Mon, 26 Feb 2018 06:33:21 GMT

Looks fake.

Lets hope buyers know to have them checked and open a case for refund before the 30 days are up.

Although they have 180 days in PayPal.

Re: Fake Centenary Florins

kopenhagen5 — Sat, 14 Apr 2018 07:42:11 GMT

Real or fake ? - https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/A21-Australia-1957-Florin-PCGS-Graded-MS62/112935237122?hash=item1a4b76f602:g:ZfUAAOSw0Pxa0DkB