Fake coins at Walt Disny World

So I just got back from a mini vacation to Orlando, Florida. We stayed at Walt Disney World, where my wife attended a conference. On Thursday I went out to Trader Nicks, in Kissimmee Florida and had a real good time. I bought a couple of Bicentennials and a great world coin to add to my collection. I spent a little time talking to one of the employees, I can't remember his name but he was very nice.

Anyway on to the point of this post. Yesterday we went to Epcot and walked through the world marketplace. At the China booth they had a package of Chinese coins that were supposed to be from the 1600's to date, but they were marked "reproductions" on the back of the package in very tiny letters. But in the back of the booth, they had a package of Trade Dollars, six of them for $8.00. There was no real packaging, just a folder with 6 Trade dollars in them. As I was looking through the coins I found another package except this one had 3 trade dollars, a peace dollar a morgan and an Ike. I asked the girl at the booth if these were real and she said yes, of course. I'm sure they were not, but no where on the coins or packaging were they marked COPY or reproduction. If they were real there would have to be at least $50 or $60 worth of silver in them.

Whats the deal? Is Disney really allowing someone to sell fake coins as real? Do they even know what is sold at all the little shops inside there park? Is this something worth investigating further or should I just let it go? I just don't want some kid buying them thinking they are getting a great deal, then later going to a dealer to try and sell them and getting the usual reaction.

Thanks,
David

 

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Can you post pictures of these items, especially the folders?

Did the folders have the Disney name on them?

 

It may have just been the employee who didn't really know. She's probably paid 4.50 an hour to stand there and smile, so doesn't care what she knows about the stock. Thats why I never buy coins in small shops that aren't coin shops unless I know for sure what it is.
Guy~

 

Those are pretty amazing prices, even for reproductions!

 

Disney's legal department would undoubtedly be very interested in learning that one of their shops is selling counterfeit goods that clearly violate the Hobby Protection Act!

 

Tourist are at the mercy of con people everywhere. Unless those Chinese sellers were in a Mickey Mouse outfit, I would avoid them.
There is a story of an American Tourist landing in Ireland. A local approached him with a skull and said it was the original skull of an ancient Irish King and he would sell if for a few hundred dollars. The American purchased the skull. A year later the same American landed at the same airport and again was approched by the same guy with anothe skull but smaller. Again he said it was the skull of the same King. The American tourist reminded him he purchased a larger skull the year before and the salesman stated, AH yes, but this is when he was a boy.

 

why on earth would you buy a human skull from some random person in the street?

 

The coins were sold by a Disney employee, inside a Disney park. The coins were in a plain clear plastic envilope with one pocket for each coin. They had no label, or anything, just clear plastic. On the back corner there was the standard Disney price tag. I did not buy them, but I am now thinking that maybe I should have.

David

 

For that price, even if they were fakes, they would be an inexpensive souvineir.
Guy~

 

This was called a joke. Note the impossibility of buying a skull of the same person twice. The intent was the scam possibilities everywhere.
As to purchasing those coins, now your'll never know for sure. Maybe good, maybe bad. A lable can be put on anything, by anybody, anytime.

 

Sure, you can play coin police. Write a letter, make the phone call...it would have helped your case to provide pictures or a sample of the item to support your allegation. After you take on the Chinese, I'm sure ebay would appreciate your help with policing their auctions. Thanks for the warning. I guess the pirate gold at the pirates of the caribbean gift shop is a replica as well (not stamped) ..bummer. I though I was rich.

 

Hey, I'm a big fan of Disney, I have an annual pass, I visit the park at least once a month, I own most of the Videos, DVDs and even Laserdisks. I have thousands of dollars worth of Disney art and probably as much in collectibles, including hundreds of dollars worth of pins. I have visited Disney World, Disneyland Paris, Disneyland Tokyo, and Disneyland (in California), and Disney Seas (Tokyo).

I'm just commenting that I think it is very irresponsible for a company with a reputation like Disney's, on for clamping down on almost every instance of copyright infringement, to let something like this happen. Disney (as a company) is known for having amazingly tight controls on everything that happens in its parks, so the fact that they are allowing fake US coins to be sold inside one of their parks is baffling. And the fact that the Chinese coins were labeled as reproductions while the US ones were not was also a little strange.

Also, while I know I should not do this... I think that there is a huge difference between buying something in the Pirates of the Carribean gift shop, inside the Magic Kingdom, and buying something from a shop in Epcot. In the Magic Kingdom there is a feeling of whimsy, a willing suspension of disbelief, you do not have the expectation of authenticity that you normally would. Epcot is completely different. It is billed as a venue where you can obtain authentic products from around the world. When you buy something you are led to believe that the product is exactly as described, and from the country you bought it in. The pirate gold coin is a poor example though. If I were to see a morgan dollar in Frontier Land, in the Magic Kingdom, my first instinct would be to think that it is a fake, a souvenir, unless it clearly stated that it was in fact real. But in Epcot, if I were to see (and I did) a Trade Dollar at the China pavilion, my first thought would be that this was in fact a real coin, unless I was told otherwise. It's just a matter of the expectations that you have when in the park. Expectations that are carefully crafted by Disney.

 

Interesting interpretation. For all these years I thought Epcot was a theme park.

Best of luck with the crusade. When you go next month, make a purchase and post pics. I, for one, would love to see the coins in question.

 

Carl:
Great story!

 

Too many Mickey Mouses selling Goofey stuff to Daffey people!


Frank

 

So the moral of the story is….You can buy skulls from Oriental people at Disney?

Sorry…

I like Trade Dollars and I will buy them when I find them, but I would use the same skepticism and caution buying from a booth at Disney that I would use when buying from a dealer with a physical storefront or a seller using an on-line auction site.
Actually, I would probably exercise more caution when buying coins from some random booth at an amusement park.
As for the human skulls, I haven’t thought about collecting them yet and I doubt that the Wife would cozy up to that idea.

 

C'mon Frank, I think you're mixing Disney and Warner Bros. now.

One thing's for sure David, no harm can come from notifying Disney. Now I will have to take a look myself when I'm there.

 

I can just see the headlines now "Mickey Mouse arrested in big counterfeit coin scam. Minnie and Pluto trying to make bail, but got caught using Mickey's counterfeit coins! And last night was a raid outside the police station, kids throwing sippy cups at the cops. More news to come."

Phoenix

 

Guess Disney really needs to start looking a lot closer. Hell, it costs enough to get into those places let alone get ripped off.

Last time I was at Epcot (damn near 20 years ago) I went with my future wife (now of 18 years), future Mother in Law and future Sister in law (now there's a good time). I chose to sample alcoholic beverages from several countries. Spent a long time in an English pub. As I remember it the booze was real. Food wasn't too shabby either.
Guess they check up on the important things.