FAKE COBS: ALERTS AND DATABASE

Since the advent of eBay , fake cobs have proliferated online.  Since many counterfeits look perfectly good in photos, you don't know you are bidding on or even buying a fake till you actually receive it.  Often the weight will tip you off, but sometimes not.  For years now I have been "policing" eBay  and helping clients avoid these fakes, and I will continue to advise anyone who asks.  Below are some that are not readily detectable as fakes from the photos, but are known to be fakes simply by virtue of the fact that several different specimens exist with the exact same details and shape (never a reality on authentic cobs). Click here to check our FAKE COB DATABASE

ID#	"Fake Cob type"	Photo (Click to Enlarge)	Comments
#FC53624	Mexico, 4 reales, Carlos-Juana, "Late Series," M to left, L to right (post-1554 type)		Note I actually sold a specimen of this fake in 2005, and as recently as July, 2006, it was being offered by Chinese seller cliff* on eBay .
#FC53625	Colombia, 2 Escudos - Mid-1600's. possibly gold-plated in some cases		Another gold-cob fake that is turning up a lot in South and Central American markets is this mid-1600s 2 escudos made out of base metal or silver
#FC53626	Mexico, 8 reales, 1630D
#FC53627	Mexico, 8 reales, 1635P		Note this is identical, except for the date, to 1647/6P and 1657P #3 below, and this same planchet exists with contrived full dates 1634, 1637, 1649, 1655, 1656, and 1667
#FC53628	Mexico, 8 reales, 1647/6P		Note this is identical, except for the date, to 1635P above and 1657P #3 below, and this same planchet exists with contrived full dates 1634, 1637, 1649, 1655, 1656, and 1667
#FC53629	Mexico, 8 reales, 1652/42P		Very commonly offered on eBay  from Asia.
#FC53630	Mexico, 8 reales, 1653P #1		Very commonly offered on eBay  from Asia.
#FC53631	Mexico, 8 reales, 1653P #2		Very commonly offered on eBay  from Asia.
#FC53632	Mexico, 8 reales, 1657P #1		Very commonly offered on eBay  from Asia.
#FC53633	Mexico, 8 reales, 1657P #2		Very commonly offered on eBay  from Asia.
#FC53634	Mexico, 8 reales, 1657P #3		Note this is identical, except for the date, to 1635P and 1647/6P above, and this same planchet exists with contrived full dates 1634, 1637, 1649, 1655, 1656, and 1667
#FC53635	Mexico, Royal 8 reales, 1646P		This one has been offered several times by the same eBay  seller, keywestdivers.  it appears this coin was cast from Lázaro's specimen.  In any case, the usual red flags are there (private auction, no returns), so no one should be bidding on it anyway, but so far the bids are in the thousands of dollars--well into the range in which someone must think it is genuine. *
#FC53636-A	Mexico, 8 reales, Early-1600's		Another Mexican cob 8R fake, this one actually fooled me till I saw it in person and noticed telltale tiny balls on the surface, otherwise (and especially from just a photo) it passes very easily for a nice "Rill Cove wreck" (ca. 1618) specimen with the edges corroded away
#FC53636	Mexico, 8 reales, oMF Phillip III		Another Mexican cob 8R fake. 24.8 grams. Metal is usually silver and the patina looks authentic.
#FC53637	Mexico, 8 reales ROYAL, 1610F
#FC53638	Mexico, 8 reales, 1714J (Fleet)		Supposed to be from the 1715 Fleet (corroded, underweight, etc.) but I have seen at least two identical specimens
#FC53639	Mexico, 8 reales, 1715J (Fleet)		Another one supposed to be from the 1715 Fleet, and seems to be a pretty good fake till you see its litter-mates (and they always seem to be mounted...)  As a further note on this one, seller 2006edgec sold this coin as genuine even though he had been told (and shown) that it was fake, so you might want to avoid his offerings in the future. Other coins has been offered as "Treasure coins" all fakes as well.
#FC53640	Mexico, 8 reales, (1710-15) (Fleet)		The only way to tell is because we had two coins alike in our hands.
#FC53641	Mexico, 8 reales klippe, 1733MF		Note:  this is a highly counterfeited type, but this particular fake is cropping up a lot these days and is identifiable by the four "plugged holes" in the corners, which are rendered simply as flat spots in the casting. Other type of 1733 fakes are also being offered on eBay ,(rectangular shape)
#FC53642	Mexico, 8 reales klippe, 1734MF		Another klippe but this one dated 1734.
#FC53643	Mexico, 8 escudos ROYAL, 1702		This is a well known cast of a fantastic royal 8 escudos.
#FC53644	Mexico, 2 escudos, 1713		There is also a proliferation of fake Mexican gold cobs touted as being from the 1715 fleet.
#FC53645	Mexico, 8 escudos, (1714-1715)		There is also a proliferation of fake Mexican gold cobs touted as being from the 1715 fleet.
#FC53646	Mexico, Gold Cob 1715 Fleet Set		There is also a proliferation of fake Mexican gold cobs touted as being from the 1715 fleet.  I have seen them offered individually, but here are some group shots (an 8-4-2-1 denomination set) from seller hobie1965, who refused to withdraw the sale even after being shown identical coins in other auctions
#FC53646-A	Mexico, 8 escudos, 1731		An old well known fake.
#FC53647	Potosí, Bolivia, 8 reales Royal, 1707Y		Over the past several years I have seen a particular brand of counterfeit coming out of Peru that is more fanciful than deceitful, as the designs are not like the genuine coins. This is a good example and following many more...
#FC53648	Potosí, Bolivia, 2 reales, "Philip II, 1593"
#FC53649	Potosí, Bolivia, 1 real Royal, 1686VR
#FC53650	Potosí, Bolivia, 8 reales, Philip IV, P-T		This cob and the following two, on the other hand, are more dangerous (at least when buying from a photo) because they are cast from genuine examples
#FC53651	Potosí, Bolivia, 4 reales, Philip II, P-B
#FC53652	Potosí, Bolivia, 1 real, Philip II, P-M
#FC53653	Potosí, Bolivia, 8 reales, 1652E transitional Type III		Some other Potosí fakes to watch for
#FC53654	Potosí, Bolivia, 8 reales, 1653E		Note:  this one commonly comes from sellers in China and southeast Asia)
#FC53655	Potosí, Bolivia, 8 reales, 1653E #2		Note:  this one comes from eBay  seller "komakoma", whom many of my customers have asked me to watch, yet this is the first specimen of his that I have actually examined in person to be able to condemn it
#FC53656	Potosí, Bolivia, 8 reales, 1653E #3		Note:  this one is an "official replica" made in Ecuador to commemorate the Capitana salvage
#FC53657	Potosí, Bolivia, 8 reales, 1654E "Capitana"		Apparently that was not the only "casted" cob from the Capitana salvage, there are a few more examples around, including countermarked "L" pieces.
#FC53658	Potosí, Bolivia, 8 reales, 1651/2E "Capitana"
#FC53659	Potosí, Bolivia, 8 reales, 1655E		Note:  another "komakoma" offering that is likely to crop up again
#FC53660	Potosí, Bolivia, 8 reales ROYAL, 1676E		Sold at least twice by eBay  seller "nammibob" despite notification. (Note we lack of scan for the reverse)
#FC53661	Potosí, Bolivia, 8 reales, 1686 with countermark from Guatemala.
#FC53662	Potosí, Bolivia, 8 reales, 1692VR
#FC53663	Potosí, Bolivia, 8 reales, 1696VR		In addition, here is a fake that should be recognizable as such by anyone but a neophyte, yet it crops up as genuine on eBay  all the time (most recently [September, 2006] by seller "vintage_comics_and_collectibles"
#FC53664	Potosí, Bolivia, 8 reales, 1696VR		And a similar one, recently offered by "paulelaine2524," who had some other fake cobs for sale as well and refused to remove them.   (Note:  This seller now goes by the name of "pgar299422" on eBay .)
#FC53665	Potosí, Bolivia, 8 reales ROYAL, 1704Y
#FC53666	Potosí, Bolivia, 8 reales, 1730		A very common cast fake that has been around for decades and is now cropping up on eBay
#FC53667	Potosí, Bolivia, 8 reales ROYAL, 1734E		Note that this appears to be cast from a genuine coin that was offered on eBay  in late 2005, but I know that that coin was genuine because I examined it in person
#FC53668	Potosí, Bolivia, 8 reales HEART, 1742C		Note that the too-neat style of this coin typifies the fantasy pieces coming out of Peru in recent years
#FC53669	Potosí, Bolivia, 8 reales, 1760q		A very common cast fake that has been around for decades and is now cropping up on eBay
#FC53670	Potosí, Bolivia, 2 reales HEART, 1786		A very common cast fake that has been around for decades and is now cropping up on eBay
#FC53671	Santa Fe, Colombia, 8 Reales, 1652		In 2005 the Perth Mint produced a 13 piece collection of replicas, including the coin illustrated here. This is an "official" reproduction. The Perth Mint is wholly owned by the government of Western Australia and is operated by Gold Corporation which was created under an Act of Parliament
#FC53672	Lima, Peru, 8 Reales, 1684		You will find this coin everywhere, even in some coin shows, being offered as a "fleet" cob.
#FC53673	Lima, Peru, 8 reales, 1700H		Yet another Chinese fake, this one for Lima!
#FC53674-A	Lima, Peru, 8 Reales assayer Rincon		This is fantasy very well done with the right weight, bought at a market in Peru.
#FC53674	Lima, Peru, 2 escudos 1705		This is a replica plated, made back in the late 70's, early 80's. (about half the real weight)
#FC53675	Lima, Peru, 8 escudos 1711		This is a replica plated, made back in the late 70's, early 80's. (about half the real weight)
#FC53676	Lima, Peru, 8 escudos 1712		This is a replica plated, made back in the late 70's, early 80's.
#FC53677	Lima, Peru, 8 escudos 1712		This is a replica plated, made back in the late 70's, early 80's.
#FC53678	Lima, Peru, 8 escudos 1714		This is a replica made in gold.
#FC53679	Lima, Peru, 8 escudos, 1736N		This one was sold by seller "estatedoctor" along with many other bad cobs ("private auction"--usually a red flag!) even after I notified him that they were fake.  Note also that several cast fakes of this date are known, including some copies marketed by Disney World at their Pirates of the Caribbean gift shop

Recent alert: About Chinese sellers...several new names are currently flooding eBay  with fake Mexican cobs with too-good-to-be-true dates!

Past alerts: DO NOT BUY COBS FROM SELLER "estatedoctor" (AKA thats_all_folks66, Pamiam003, PJD1966, Jdonnellysr
Pamayimmalachim, Pam/Jim Donnelly) ...he has been offering many fake cobs by private auction and does not respond to warnings that they are fake. Changed names several times already.

The Mexican silver cobs listed in our FAKE COB DATABASE (plus the Lima 1700 and the first of the 1653's listed under Potosí) are frequently offered by sellers in China and southeast Asia (some with bogus US addresses) like whole4sale, likesunshine2004, skpter_70, rcn_lq, cliff*, wuxk, meihaoweilai166, yilitreasures, hehongxia78, myhearwill2008, zhujiangang_888, jingk21355, tradedealer1983, zisebingjing888, fuxingshi2006, lansexingkong5218, youyishangdian98, helin998, stageoneco, yimin6882007, hun8802006, believe_me518 (gotta like this guy's psychology!) and others—don't buy cobs from these sellers!

Also, do yourself a favor and familiarize yourself with the "falsificaciones" at the end of Calbetó's Compendium from 1970, as that shows many of the "old" fakes that have been around for many decades yet still crop up on eBay  and other places.  Most recently I have seen Calbetó #1920 (A Potosí cob 8R 1687 with Guatemala c/m) offered by "gallantfoxx," who swore to its authenticity even after I presented him with the evidence that it was a long-known fake...he refused to remove it and ended up selling it for Ł127 (about $242).

Many more fakes have been seen on eBay  and are in my database; the above are just most-often seen or are the most deceptive.  Please continue to let me know if you see any I can add to my database, and help me keep the internet clean!

* Postscript:  Other specimens are cropping up now (most recently by djchris39), and I understand they are sold in Central American tourist shops for around $10 each.

One last footnote:  This page applies only to cobs, but internet buyers should be aware that there is a huge rash of fake pillar dollars (and minors) coming out of China and east Asia.  Be VERY careful buying from anybody in that part of the world, and be especially sure to avoid any private auctions (where bidders cannot be warned by the experts).  The following sellers have been warned but continue to sell fakes:  ayambangkok, cliff*, l_r2000. Oh, and for as long as it is still viewable, take a look at #250220839713, a beautiful 1732 that would be worth $25,000 easily in today's market, except that it is FAKE! The poor buyer paid $715 for his ignorance, and the seller liu_jian86 continues to peddle fakes, as eBay  has let him do for a long time now.