With news of 2010 bringing us a palladium Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle, what I want to know is, when are they going to get around to making them in silver?
I recently read on a message board of a guy who found a couple of 1985 silver Double Eagles, and was wondering where the heck they came from, as he couldn’t find them anywhere in the books. Turns out, they were a pair of fantasy coins. What that suggests to me is that, if people want silver Double Eagles enough to risk jail time for counterfeiting them, then they would probably sell just as well as the gold coins, if not better.
More importantly, it suggests to me that there are some beginning collectors out there who are being duped into buying phoney silver Double Eagles!
So just a reminder: Know your coins.
Keep reading about the coins you want to collect, and try to develop an encyclopaedic knowledge of them. It sounds like a lot of work, but I’m afraid it’s the only way to keep from getting scammed by some huckster pawning off fake rarities.
Short of that, just remember this; if it sounds too good to be true, and it’s not certified, it’s probably a fake. If you hit up a convention and some joker tells you he has the one and only gold Double Eagle $23 and a half coin, and it can be yours for just twelve grand, run, don’t walk, to the next booth over.
This is why a lot of collectors don’t like to deal in uncertified rare coins. By and large, coin collectors are honest people, like any other group of people. But also like any other group of people, you have your share of fly-by-night scam artists trying to make a quick buck, so know your coins, and look for certification.
Connect With Us