(Bill Bugert - Editor: David Lange, Director of Research for the Numismatic Guaranty Corporations sent me this note on January 23, 2008.)

“I received the following bulletin from Ray Czahor of Cookie Jar Collectibles, and we agreed that it should be reprinted in the E-Gobrecht. I was just talking to a good friend in Manila Philippines this morning on a couple of Philippine issues. He attended a local auction this weekend.

He said Moslems were offering to local dealers, some of whom bit, 80 to 100 SCARCE to RARE US Liberty 50 Cent pieces. They included dates 1847, 1857, 1857-S, and 1857-O. He said the pieces were the correct weight, high grade UNCs, nice reeding but rounded edges. One dealer there bought 65 pieces for up to $250 for the rare date. Maybe you have already seen them but thought I would pass this info on.”

By KEVIN G. HALL for McClatchy Newspapers

DANDONG, China | The currency changer, brazenly plying his illegal trade in the Bank of China lobby, pulled out a thick wad of cash from around the world and carefully removed a bill. The 2003 series U.S. $100 bill was a fake, but not just any fake. It was a “supernote,” a counterfeit so perfect it’s an international whodunit.

It had come from a North Korean businessman, the changer said, getting angry looks from his confederates. He stank of alcohol, but his story was plausible. The impoverished hermit nation sat just across the Yalu River from Dandong.

The Bush administration and members of Congress two years ago loudly accused North Korean leaders of being behind the counterfeiting of U.S. currency, but a 10-month McClatchy Newspapers investigation raises questions about those charges.

As the currency changer told a reporter, “The ones from Europe are much better.” Read Full Story

Daniel Cressey for Nature.com

Acoustic method could quickly catch counterfeit coins.
You might assume that counterfeiters only bother with high-value bank notes, but there is a chance that some of the coins jangling around in your pocket right now are fake. If Mototsugu Suzuki gets his way, it may be that jangling that gives them away.

Suzuki, a researcher at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Laboratory in Japan, has developed a way of examining coins based on the sound they make.

The traditional method of spotting a fake coin is to look at it — very closely. While this requires equipment no more specialist than a reasonable microscope, says Suzuki, it is time consuming and can cause “a lot of trouble” if the coins are heavily worn or when a large number of counterfeit coins are in the system. Read Full Story

* * * * * CONSUMER ALERT * * * * *

NGC has identified and confirmed that a counterfeit replica of its holder has been produced. At first appearance, the holder resembles the NGC holder and its respective brand marks. Upon inspection, variations in the holder, label and hologram make them easily discernible from authentic NGC-certified coins. This announcement includes diagnostic information to identify counterfeit holders.

The holder has been seen housing counterfeit dollar or foreign crown size coins. While the enclosed coins are also counterfeit, the label information matches the coin type enclosed. The label information is copied from actual NGC certification labels, and the certification information therefore will match the NGC database. Most frequently Trade Dollars and Bust Dollars are found, although, Flowing Hair Dollars, and foreign coins have also been seen. A range of grades is also represented.

Read Full NGC Announcement with Additional Photos

A man responsible for making 14million fake £1 coins is starting a five-year jail sentence. Police said the coin-making operation was one of the biggest they had ever seen.

Marcus Glindon, 37, ran the counterfeiting scam from a workshop on an industrial estate after losing his job as an engineer. Despite the scale of the forging operation - which earned Glindon £300,000 - police said his lifestyle showed no “signs of wealth”.

Officers who searched his workshop in Enfield, North London, discovered enough machinery for the large-scale manufacture of fake coins. There were also copies of the dyes used to imprint legitimate £1 coins.

Detectives arrested Glindon, from nearby Edmonton, and he admitted he had been producing the fake money for seven years.

The father of two said that he had worked alone for most of that time, under the orders of two men he knew only as “Tom” and “John”. They would deliver materials to his workshop, which he would use to produce both completed and blank coins. (more…)