A counterfeit 2002 $2 circulation coin with an apparent misaligned core has sold on eBay for $144.
It’s described by its Canada-based seller, who has 100 per cent positive feedback on the popular online marketplace, as a “great coin.” Its reverse, however, features some of the tell-tale markers identified by counterfeit coin expert Mike Marshall and other collectors since these fakes started appearing last fall (“Surge of suspected fakes hits cities across Canada since fall, collector finds,” CCN Vol. 59 #1).
“(It’s the) only one I have seen with (a) large die crack reverse going from the two across (the) core to the ‘S’ and (a) nice indent strike,” reads the seller’s description, which adds there is a “no questions asked return policy.”
The most glaring counterfeit marker on a recent spate of fake $2 circulation coins (left) is the polar bear’s right paw. On genuine toonies (right), the bear’s paw is more uniform.
The fake appears to have been unknowingly sold and purchased as genuine.
Of the tens of thousands of coins checked by Marshall, several examples have obverse die cracks and two examples have “retained broken dies” on the reverse, he told CCN this March.
“The crack starts at the rim, comes down through the devices – or the legend in this case – moves across to the letter beside it and then back up to the rim again,” Marshall said, adding that die “is not long for this world.”
As mentioned, the mostly realistic-looking fakes have a noticeable flaw in the polar bear’s right paw, which includes a deep split in the middle—something also found on the coin recently sold on eBay.
Genuine $2 coins have a less pronounced separation between the paw’s middle toes.
The suspected fakes are also incorrectly weighted and sometimes have an oily appearance compared to genuine examples.