It was reported that the third-party grading service ANACS has found a counterfeit 1934 Peace Dollar. Although the coin appears to be made with a genuine planchet, indications of heavy polishing and other flaws seen under high magnification has ANACS questioning the coin’s authenticity.
Senior ANACS Numismatist Michael Fahey was interviewed for the Coin World article does not believe that the counterfeiters used a previously struck coin and that the dies were made using a transfer process.
NGC discovered the “Blundered O” not included in the VAM references.
Regardless of whether one point is valid or not, the fact of the matter is that the ANACS staff who examined the coin found a lot of evidence that leads them to believe the coin is counterfeit. Finding counterfeit coins that get by experienced dealers and nearly fools the graders is a serious matter for the hobby. This is why the Hobby Protection Act needs to be strengthened so that we can stop something like this from hurting the hobby.
I will remind everyone that it is not too late to write to your representative and ask him or her to support H.R. 5977 the Collectible Coin Protection Act. In short, the Collectible Coin Protection Act will allow collectors, dealers, and grading services to bring legal actions that are much more effective, with much stronger remedies than previously existed. It will allow those harmed to work with the Justice Department to bring criminal actions, where appropriate.
The only way to ensure that H.R. 5977 becomes law, especially since we are approaching the end of this session in an election year, is to contact your member of congress will let them know that the numismatic community supports this Act and that their support is important. It can be worked on during the lame duck session and members of the Industry Council for Tangible Assets (ICTA) and the Gold and Silver Political Action Committee are working to see this law passed.
WE STILL NEED YOUR HELP!
There are only 11 co-sponsors of this bill as I write this post. We need more co-sponsors to get the attention of the House leadership.
First, see if your member of congress is not a sponsor of this legislation. The best way is to visit govtrack.us, scroll down and and select the “show cosponsors” link. If your representative is not there, here is a sample note to send them (complements of the ICTA):
HR 5977 provides a means whereby US citizens can take legal action against purveyors of the high-quality counterfeit US coins entering our marketplace from China by expanding enforcement power of the Hobby Protection Act. The Hobby Protection Act has been in effect since its passage in December, 1975, but lacks enforcement power that HR 5977 now provides.
HR 5977 is revenue neutral and contains no controversial issues.
Please contact me if you have any questions or if I can provide any additional information. Thank you for your action on this.
Even though the House is not in session, members can still contact the Clerk of the House and ask that their name be added as a co-sponsor. The more names added, the better the chance that the bill will see action in the lame duck session.
Please take this opportunity and contact your representative today!
ADDED: If you do contact your representative, please leave a note here and let me know who you contacted. THANKS!
Image courtesy of NGC.
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I totally agree everyone should contact their member and that will hopefully help, but the reality of our democracy is that in many cases if you are a regular constituent, meaning you do not contribute money to their campaign or know them personally, they will simply contact the Congressional Research Service for info. on the issue. But please don’t let that discourage you. Don’t give up before trying. If they get enough letters, they will look at the issue more closely and hopefully vote for the legislation.
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of writing is actually a fastidious paragraph, keep it up.