jim4silver
Silver Member
- Apr 15, 2008
- 3,662
- 495
I guess silver is getting ready to drop a bit since I locked in a deal today. 
Been wanting to buy for a while but needed the cash for other things. Going to pick up some Engelhard prospector rounds and toned/slightly off quality ASEs, for 50 cents over spot. Gotta be careful with the Engelhard prospectors though, since there have been reports lately of counterfeits. Fortunately, from what I have seen, the fakes look kind of fake to those who are familiar with real prospectors. The fakes look kind of "proof like" in their appearance and don't weigh correctly. There are a few minor differences as well with the actual design on the coin.
The prospectors are my second favorite silver bullion coin (next to the Mexican Libertad/Onza), so this rise in counterfeits is disturbing, not only for fear of buying one, but when it comes time to sell some day, buyers may be leery of purchasing them. As silver goes up I am confident there will be fakes of all types of major silver bullion, especially with the popular gov rounds like ASEs, Maples, etc. Hopefully the fakes will either be too light or too heavy, or too big or too small. If they ever make them the proper size and weight AND real looking, then we are all going to have problems buying new stuff. I hope to have my stash fully completed before silver takes off to 50 and beyond, which is when I believe we will really see an explosion of fakes and counterfeits. Unlike gold, I believe silver would be easier to fake since silver's weight and density does not seem to be as unique as gold's. Although silver does have its characteristic "ring" that helps in identifying a real silver coin/round/bar.
Here is a link from a PM blog that talks about fake prospectors with some photos.
https://www.kitcomm.com/showthread.php?t=104525
Jim
Been wanting to buy for a while but needed the cash for other things. Going to pick up some Engelhard prospector rounds and toned/slightly off quality ASEs, for 50 cents over spot. Gotta be careful with the Engelhard prospectors though, since there have been reports lately of counterfeits. Fortunately, from what I have seen, the fakes look kind of fake to those who are familiar with real prospectors. The fakes look kind of "proof like" in their appearance and don't weigh correctly. There are a few minor differences as well with the actual design on the coin.
The prospectors are my second favorite silver bullion coin (next to the Mexican Libertad/Onza), so this rise in counterfeits is disturbing, not only for fear of buying one, but when it comes time to sell some day, buyers may be leery of purchasing them. As silver goes up I am confident there will be fakes of all types of major silver bullion, especially with the popular gov rounds like ASEs, Maples, etc. Hopefully the fakes will either be too light or too heavy, or too big or too small. If they ever make them the proper size and weight AND real looking, then we are all going to have problems buying new stuff. I hope to have my stash fully completed before silver takes off to 50 and beyond, which is when I believe we will really see an explosion of fakes and counterfeits. Unlike gold, I believe silver would be easier to fake since silver's weight and density does not seem to be as unique as gold's. Although silver does have its characteristic "ring" that helps in identifying a real silver coin/round/bar.
Here is a link from a PM blog that talks about fake prospectors with some photos.
https://www.kitcomm.com/showthread.php?t=104525
Jim
