Modern Fakes of coins sold in Sri Lanka
Fakes put on eBay Auction by a Tourist who visited Lanka
The following items were posted by eBay Auction in 2003 February by a seller in London, UK with the very typical claim I bought them in Sri Lanka but have no further information about them!
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Asking seller for details and informing him that they are fake,
I suggested that he take them out of auction. I got the reply
Thanks for warning. The coins were sold to me in a 'junk shop'
shack on the beach. I paid around US$ 20 for the lot. I will have a
look at your article and alter my eBay description accordingly.
He lowered the minimum bid from £120 and £100 to £30
and £20 and added the highlight "IT HAS BEEN POINTED OUT TO ME
THAT THESE MAY BE COPIES, I MAKE NO CLAIMS OTHERWISE AS I DON'T KNOW!"
Note I had never said "they maybe copies". I said "THEY ARE COPIES". Sometimes it is hard to say from an image and if that is the case I inform the seller accordingly. In this case ANYONE with the slightest knowledge on these coins will say that they are obvious tourist fakes. They maybe purchased by someone who might try to sucker some other ignorant collector.
I offered to refund the $20 he paid to keep them of the numismatic market. I don't pay for them in Lanka to give forgers no encouragement to produce more. I have worked to keep them off eBay for last few years. I asked this eBay seller to be more responsible and to not risk his reputation by trying to make a few bucks by misrepresentation. IMHO that makes his sale no different to what the Touts do on the beach in Lanka, to make a sale to an ignorant tourist.
The originals of these coins are shown on this website, for the Bar, the 7 Dutch VOC dump coins, and the 2 British era dump coins.
I am glad that they are still so crude and satisfy the touts claim to make them just souvenirs for Tourists. It is illegal to export out of the island any genuine items including coins more than 100 years old. In reality I doubt the forgers have even seen the real coins.
I hope the information on these webpages will reduce such incidence of fraud. They have almost been able to stop the sale of these fakes on eBay.
Modern Fakes of Lankan coins warnings.
LakdivaCoins collection website.