Bullion Baron

On the Bullion Baron Blog I recently wrote about fake coins and bars that were hitting the market and included a photo of a fake 1 Ounce Gold Kangaroo and also mentioned a recent warning that there were counterfeit Perth Mint 2012 Year of the Dragon 1oz silver coins being sold.





Some photos of the fake Lunar Dragon (assuming the origin was China) were posted online recently. I've cut them out and posted them next to images of the real coin so you can see the differences. The images on the left are the counterfeit Silver Lunar Dragon coin and the images on the right are a real coin. Click any of the below images to enlarge the view.

Major Differences.





Dragon Side:

- Swirls in clouds not as visible on the fake coin

- Smooth (instead of scaled) claws on the fake coin

- "Year of the Dragon" text on the real coin is thicker

- Detail in general (scales/edges) is more defined on the real coin





Queen Side:

- Queen looks to be smiling on the fake coin (not so on the real one)

- Queen has a sharper looking nose on the fake coin

- Wrinkle lines on forehead missing on fake coin

- Much more detail in the hair and crown on the real coin





These fakes even came in coin capsules which replicated the look of those from the Perth Mint.





This is only one version of a fake 2012 Silver Lunar Dragon, there may be others out there which look closer to the real item or have other differences to watch out for.



