The article is broken up into separate posts - The coin investments list is at the end of the articleFakes are a hot topic these days. The high prices of modern Chinese coins have brought many more fakes into the market. These new fakes are very high quality, and require an expert to distinguish from a genuine coin. Some of them are so good, NGC must consult with these outside experts to be sure of a coin's authenticity.
Once holdered in a genuine NGC holder, NGC is backing their determination of authenticity with their guarantee of compensation for coin buyers if it turns oun NGC made a mistake. NGC's guarantee is the best in the industry. PCGS has begun rejecting many Chinese coins simply because they're not willing to put in the work it takes to verify the authenticity of a coin. There is no such thing as a fake that is identical to a genuine coin.
Medals are being targeted for counterfeiting in China because they do not have the legal protections that coins with a face value have. I have written in the past why medals matter: all coins become "medals" eventually, when their legal status becomes obsolete. China is the most familiar with this phenomenon, and they're the most likely to value "medals" with no face value equally to "coins" that do have a face value.
When I write about coins, I call them all coins, and I tend not to distinguish between medals and coins. Historically, there has been no distinction, and the notion that some "medals" are not "coins" is a recent idea that seems to come from America, where there is little to no experience with obsolescence and replacement of national currencies.
In China, and much of the rest of the world, a coin is a "coin" if it is a metal disk that could be used as money, even if it was privately issued. America does have that too (mostly colonial and territorial issues), but it is often forgotten in discussions of medals versus coins.
However, right now, Chinese collectors are making the same mistake that has been made over and over in the past. They're turning away from medals because they think they should because they have no legal protection against counterfeiting from the government. This has kept medals very cheap for wise Western buyers who know that Chinese people will eventually figure it out as well as some of us have.
China's legal protection extends only to their fiat currency, which is guaranteed to eventually become worthless. Even China's own government is preparing for this eventuality by hoarding the world's gold and silver. This is means that China is selling Westerners their "medals" too cheaply by mistake.
The first thing that usually makes a coin collectible is its official status. It doesn't matter much what it is made of, or what is printed on it, as long as it is official. With the world facing a devaluation crisis in the legally protected fiat currencies, the official "medals" that are made of precious metals like gold and silver (or even copper) are quickly becoming equal to the coins that have a face value. In both cases, the face value is, or will become, equally zero.
This is why expo pandas are very valuable, even though they're "only medals". They're official, rare, popular with collector, and made of gold, silver, copper, etc - and that's what gives them value. The face value does not exist, and wouldn't matter even if it did. Some of these medals are more valuable than equally rare pandas that have a face value, just because their rarity is more appreciated by collectors for whatever reason.
In the end, it will all come down to rarity. Face value - "coin" versus "medal" - will not matter. For this reason, I have been putting most of my effort into buying rare medals (and I prefer to just call them "coins"). They are terrifically undervalued due to fear of fakes and the lack of legal protection for medals in China.
The legal protection for medals is something that can come at any time. The USA has already done this with the Hobby Protection Act, where counterfeiting pretty much anything is a crime. China will eventually be forced to do the same, just to protect their market. Now is the time to be buying medals, when only some of them have fair values relative to their rarity.
NOTE:
Other coins can become valuable collectibles even if they're not technically official. In some cases, even if they're not at all official. The 1987 1 oz silver god of longevity medal was mentioned at the CCF today to possibly not be official, even though it was made at the Chinese mint. Coins that are unofficially made at the Chinese mint are strong candidates for being exceptions to the rule that a coin must be official to be valuable. Indeed, the 1987 1 oz silver god of longevity is currently being offered at around $2500, which is certainly not cheap for an ounce of silver, but is quite a bargain for a popular coin with a mintage estimated to be about 750.
