Counterfeit coin expert Mike Marshall has been fighting fakery in Canadian numismatics for nearly 15 years. In recent months, his sights have been set on a string of suspected counterfeit $2 coins reported in cities and towns, big and small, across the country. Marshall, a resident of Quinte West, a city just west of Belleville, Ont., has been collecting data on counterfeit toonies since last summer, when dozens of fakes hit Toronto businesses (“Dozens of counterfeit toonies allegedly passed in Toronto,” CCN Vol. 58 #10). Last July, a Toronto supermarket employee reportedly found 75 counterfeit $2 circulation coins, ranging in date from 1996-2011, in one cash register. The employee didn’t identify themselves to CCN, communicating only through a private chat on the online forum Reddit, in fear of retaliation from the counterfeiters. Continue reading →
Collector and counterfeit coin expert Mike Marshall (left), of Quinte West, Ont., shows his MP Neil Ellis (right) several markers on suspected fake $2 circulation coins. Photo by Bernard Auger.
