English

Bad Metal Silver, 50c to S$1

[Extract from the Foreword by Keith Davignon] As the hobby of numismatics has grown over the last century and a half, collectors and dealers have come across these oddities, these “fakes” of the coins we love to collect, with enough frequency to testify to the prolificacy of early counterfeiters. Until recently, as members of the collecting community discovered such items, they were typically put aside as curiosities, show and tell pieces, or thrown into dealer junk boxes. Those few of us who attempted to collect them had no idea of how many were out there, where they had come from, or whether they were even legal to possess. Through his efforts, Winston has taken the subject of contemporary counterfeit U.S. coins out of the dealer junk boxes into the realm of legitimate numismatic study and collectability. What were previously looked at with disdain, are becoming recognized as a sort of criminal folk art, with a loyal following of collectors, who finally have the references they need to pursue this captivating sidebar to traditional numismatics.

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