Inside a Chinese Coin Counterfeiting Ring
The sheer size, scope, and professionalism of this counterfeiting ring will astonish you. Although the working conditions often appear dirty and the minting equipment is old, this is obviously a well-funded enterprise that is run like a legal business in China. There is no law in China against making these "replicas" as long as they are sold as such.
Just to show how few people have a clue about how much gold is worth, Mark Dice tried to sell some for dirt cheap, but nobody wanted it.
I was shocked that nobody would buy a gold coin from a stranger on the street for $50. Shocked I tell you!
I love that gold plated buffalo commercial. They show a real gold buffalo, emphasize the .9999 purity, then offer to sell a replica with 31mg of pure gold (plating), containing a little less than 1/1000th of an oz of gold. That must be a bargain or there wouldn't be a limit on how many you can order, right?
ReplyDeleteWhere else can you get $1.40 worth of gold for only $19.95 (plus $10 shipping and handling). Hahaha.
Mr Slippery,
ReplyDeleteThe newer gold coin replicas only have 14mg of gold. Apparently the price of gold was dipping into their profit margins, lol. Sigh.
That China story is astonishing.
ReplyDeleteNo one has any way of knowing whether their gold and silver "bullion" is real or not!
For me, this seals the deal for the deflation argument. Someday, a lot of people who think they own gold and silver will find out that they don't - fictitious wealth. Very deflationary!
All the gold that has even been mined in the history of the world would fit into two olympic size pools.
ReplyDeleteNow, compare that to the diamond market. It's not even a semi-precious stone! It's a common as dirt. But certain cartels control the marketing and distribution.
There you have it.
CP,
ReplyDeleteIt was a fear of mine when I owned gold. I did not trust all of my Krugerrands and I think I had reason to distrust some of them. Let's just put it that way.
GawainsGhost,
Diamonds Are Forever (Musical Tribute) ;)
They were selling fake eggs in China at one point.
ReplyDeleteFake eggs! You'd think the cost of making fake eggs that looked passable would be higher cost than just getting real eggs!
I will say this...used to be every cell phone was copied in China, sometimes faster than the OEM could get it to market.
That is not happening with the iPhone and Android phones.
Yet.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the reasons I never collect rare coins over the MS 50 grade. Partly because I couldn't afford them but mostly because the variations in grading made hundreds of percentage points difference in value - far too much at stake in grading errors. And slabbing never convinced me otherwise.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I always hate investors that nudge their way into a hobby.
Fake eggs?
ReplyDeleteHoax-Slayer: Fake Eggs from China
Moreover, although I did locate a few vague and unsubstantiated references, I could find no other credible reports confirming such incidents.
Never the less, it cannot be ruled out that such an incident did occur as described.
We may never know! ;)
Charles Kiting,
ReplyDeleteI specifically picked 90% silver junk bags as my silver investment because I figured those coins would be the least worthwhile to counterfeit.
About Lead Filled 100 Ounce Silver Bars
High value numismatic gold coins can be faked using real gold, which makes them that much more difficult to detect.
It would be easier to counterfeit than a Rolex one would think.
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