Curious 1889-CC on Ebay

There was an 1889-CC on eBay that was brought to my attention today. The coin had 11 bidders and was well over $1500. The location of the seller was in China. I managed to take copies of the photos and within hours the ad was gone. Here it is.

Is it me, or does this coin have a funny (as in funny money) look to it? It doesn't even have a look like a real Morgan, much less an '89'-CC.

I checked the certification number on the PCGS web site and result was that this is not a valid cert number. Looks like a fake coin in a fake holder. Always pays to check, especially for slabs on eBay.

Mike

I did not put the coin on my watch list, but I recall there were 11 people who bid on it. I hope that the coin was pulled before anyone paid for it.

Every time I see an obvious fake on eBay, (that's not already marked as replica or copy) I always submit a report for the listing, and it usually gets pulled.

Just a few weeks ago, I found a listing for an 1887-CC Trade Dollar, and an 1856-CC Seated Dollar. Both were great prices, and from China... And, both of which were pulled after I submitted counterfeit reports. It's a shame these kinds of coins are trying to be sold in the market.

I think most people know that the coins coming from Chinese sellers are usually fake, but the additional problem I see is that people buy these and then resell them, so it looks like they are coming from normal eBay sellers. I was going to say to be sure and only by slabbed coins, but now with this example, you have to be ultra paranoid. These days, you really need to buy the rare coins from reputable auction houses, or from reputable dealers that stand behind their coins.

Mike

There must be a set of those. We should try to get some. I saw an 1844-CC dollar on ebay a couple years ago and I sent the seller a nice note telling him it was fake because the mint didn't open until 1870 and he started giving me some grief, that I didnt know what I was talking about, so I sent ebay a note and the coin was pulled quickly. I don't think that seller was from China.