What to do with altered or counterfeit coins? 0

[powermad5000]

I decided to start this post in the newbie forum as I think the overall discussion will be helpful for newbies in the end.

A recent post by a newbie about an altered 1914 D Lincoln Wheat cent got me thinking about these questions.

If you get a coin that is altered in an attempt to deceive whether by grade or by key date or just an attempt to increase valuation that is really not there because it is faked, what do you do with the coin then being in your possession? Do you keep it? Do you throw it back as face value in circulation to get rid of it? Would you destroy it? We are not legally supposed to destroy money, but if someone before us already helped in the process by trying to fake a coin, is it not already a misrepresentation of legal tender? Do you put it in a place or holder that properly identifies it as altered/fake/counterfeit? What is the proper thing to do with it?

I will state that I have no actual counterfeit coins in my possession. I do however have one altered surface 8 reales that I eventually intend to sell as altered surface and not misrepresented as a raw coin with no information attached to it. As such, I don't have good answers to these questions and feel this will end up being a good discussion for all who take part.

[cobymordet]

I have a few counterfeits obtained through foreign coin lots.  I keep a few as examples.  If I get a counterfeit I don't care for, no need to destroy it, I just throw it in the trash.  I would love to acquire a few contemporary counterfeits of 1800's coins.

[Greenstang]

In Canada it is illegal to even own a counterfeit coin let alone sell one.

In the US, you can own one as long as you don’t try to sell it.    
There is nothing to say that you can’t spend an altered coin as long    
as you don’t misrepresent the face value.

[ldhair]

I have a few contemporary counterfeits in my collection and a few altered coins. Each holder is labeled as what it is. I would never destroy a contemporary counterfeit. To me they are a part of history and many collect them as such. Many of these have more value than the real thing in the same grade. 

I bought this one from a dealer years ago. I think the dealer knew it was counterfeit but he said nothing. This made me very careful with anything I bought from that dealer in the future. This dealer was not stupid. If I knew the coin was fake, the dealer had to know. This coin is not for sell but I have had some crazy offers in the past.

 

[Henri Charriere]

I can barely contain my sentiment.  I am therefore, hereby, going to unofficially appoint each and every member who has thus far weighed in on this subject, ordinarily fraught with extreme peril, as my official spokesman on all matters regarding what some still deem to be beneath them as one would any unsavory matter.

We've come a long way from the likes of Henning and the undisputed king of pewter halves who pumped out his fare from the back of an old Buick.

In Europe, a rather prominent purveyor of quality coins offered for sale what it billed as a "Counterfeit Forgery."  I studied the listing at length and discovered something that had eluded all the other "numismatists," namely that the composition of the coin was determined to be .9 (followed by 17 zeros) 2... "coincidentally the precise composition of a genuine, authentic F20F/GR.  The Forum, led by its more vocal adherents would have had me drawn-and-quartered after a show trial.  I, however, stood my ground. No, I did not acquire the piece but concluded all the unsightly damage it had suffered was due to those who acted on impulse.  My feeling is crystal clear: NO countefeiter will go to the extraordinary lengths required to produce a coin with such exacting attributes. With the rise in gold spot, the buyer's loss, then at a price just north of spot, was £0,00.

Incidentally, if a buyer pays millions to purchase a Picasso that eluded all the curators, what was he buying: the artist or the painting?  One cannot account for taste. Rant Over!

[Halbrook Family]

I think it's good to put them in a store that can be trusted. My store has a display of the fakes and counterfeit ones. Some coins but mostly bullion fakes.