Collector gets nod for fighting Chinese coin fakes

Officials of the Professional Coin Grading Service are applauding the efforts of collector Mike Marshall of Trenton, Ontario, in combating the sales of counterfeit coins in Canada. At the recent PCGS Set Registry(SM) luncheon Aug. 18, PCGS announced it was awarding him with a check for $5,000 and a plaque praising his work.

Beth Deisher and Steve Roach are nationally known writers who have followed the problem of counterfeit coins coming out of China since the beginning of the situation.

“Mike Marshall has been a huge aid to PCGS in combating Chinese counterfeiting, said Don Willis, PCGS president. “His tenacity resulted in the removal of several counterfeiters from online auctions ... The hobby owes Mr. Marshall a debt of gratitude for his selfless efforts.”

In 2009, Marshall wrote an article for Canadian Coin News that detailed the counterfeiting problems and explained how he was attempting to get the online auctions halted. He also wrote letters to members of the Canadian Parliament.

“Mr. Marshall’s writings were instrumental in starting the process that led to stopping the sale of counterfeit coins online in Canada, whether stamped ‘copy’ or not,” said Willis. “Through his research on corporate policies, he discovered a process through which sales of counterfeit coins could be brought to the attention of PayPal to ensure that PayPal also conformed to anti-counterfeiting laws.

“Mr. Marshall then applied the same technique to the sales of counterfeit coins in the United States. He was primarily responsible for the removal from eBay this year of one of the top Chinese counterfeiters.”