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The fraud business within the art world is certainly a booming one and as sad as it amy be there are many out there who collect art pieces woh have invested their money in something which look real, but are in fact not real at all, and likely to be utterly worthless. During this lockdown I know that many of you may have looked into getting started with coin collecting and buying online is of course fraught with danger, just as much as seeing the coin in person. Our friends from the Sadigh Gallery in New York have been kind enough to send us some tips which you can employ to find out if you have a coin which is not real, and here are 5 things you should be checking.
Seam
Most counterfeit coins have seams around the edge from where they have been cast and this is something which you will be able to clearly see with the naked eye.
Markings
Whilst there are some very skilled people who can make these coins there also many who are in it for a quick buck and therefore don’t invest much time in getting the coin absolutely perfect. For this reason you should also be paying attention to the markings such as the mintmark, ensure that it is consistent with what you have in a book of coin images.
Magnetic
Magnets do not attract to elements like gold and silver so a very quick test which you could do when you first receive the coin is to hover a magnet over the coin and see whether or not it is real, as to whether it is attracted to the magnet or not.
Ice Cube
If you want to check whether your piece is in fact silver then you should take an ice cube out of the freezer and sit it on top of the coin. What you should see here is the ice cube quickly begin to melt, and that is because silver is a conductor of heat, which means that it should get to work on the ice cube as soon as contact is made. If however the ice cube remains in tact for a little longer, it may well be that it is not made from silver at all.
Weight
I is very difficult for counterfeit coin producers to reproduce a heavy weight coin, whilst still maintaining the size of the piece. You can easily find out how much the original coin would have weighed, and then you can simply check that against the weight of the coin which you have received. If the weight doesn’t match up, then it could very well be a fake.
The key here is to know your stuff, know what metal the coin should be made of, what markings it should have and what important details it should feature. If anything feels wrong about the coin then it is best not to buy it.
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