Warning: There are a lot of sellers of Chinese antiques, fossils, and coins (coins may be Chinese or antique US coins) on ebay.

If the seller is in China, the item is almost guaranteed to be fake.  Basically all Chinese amber sold on ebay is fake; either plastic, or real amber (or copal) melted down in solvents and then cast in a mold around insects.  They may even claim it is "baltic amber".  Scorpions in amber are very rare, yet they're common on ebay.  From china.  They're all fake.



The item may be advertised to be in the UK, the US or Canada, and the listing currency may be of that country, but if the item is Chinese, it's probably fake.

There is a huge business in China of manufacturing fake antiques and fossils to be sold in the US on ebay. 

Think those Chinese fossils look a bit strange?  If you're lucky, they are a  composite of real fossils.  But more likely they are made out of modern bones glued or cemented onto a matrix rock of similar color, or a complete carved fabrication with some teeth glued on the front.

Note that it is illegal in China for anyone except The State to sell fossils from China.  So at the very least, you're buying "stolen" goods that may be confiscated in Chinese customs.  Unless it was made two weeks ago from animal bones, mud and cement, in which case it is perfectly legal.

Don't buy ANY US coin from a Chinese seller.  Buy only from reputable dealers; the fakes are too good and a LOT of people are getting hurt.  The gold coins are most likely to be fake, but as there are even a glut of fake cast bronze coins on the market, anything can happen. 

Chinese dealers manufacture "antiques", buff them (or put them in a rock tumbler, dryer, etc) to make them look old, then break them and glue them back together.  Remember, labor is very cheap.  It's worth the effort for a $100 sale.

Note in the pictures below, an authentic Jade seismograph would easily be worth tens-of-thousands of dollars...more likely hundreds of thousands.  This one was for sale under $1000.  Buyer's greed plays a part in these frauds.


There are also a large number of fake "Tibetan" antiques, artifacts and fossils on ebay, also out of China.  The "antique Tibetan wolf totem skull" is all the rage right now; there are always 3-4 for sale on ebay.  The quality of these fakes is not even that good.  The quality of carving is FAR-below the authentic carved Tibetan (human) skulls and (human or yak) bones I have seen.  I don't even know if the there is even such a thing as an authentic "Tibetan wolf totem skull", but this one is certainly a modern fake, again probably based on someone's pet dog.



Think you can tell by the feedback?  Think again.  A lot of the feedback is faked (the sellers have multiple accounts and "buy" from their own accounts to increase feedback), and also a lot of buyers don't realize that they have a fake, and put it proudly on their mantle.

If you read their feedback, you'll find that some of it, though credited to buyers with English usernames (i.e. Becky2345) was written by people that clearly do not have English as a first language, and/or use expressions of praise not from a western culture.  Look at those buyers and find they also have long lists of similar praise for their sales.  It's all part of the scam.

About my background: I have degrees in (BS) Anthropology and Electrical Engineering (BS & MS) from a major US University.  I have additional training in Osteology and Paleontology.  I am an experienced collector of computers and fossils, and I have been on many fossil digs with my father, an author for a national rock and lapidary magazine. 

I've purchased items from all over the world on ebay; The Netherlands, Hong Kong, Australia, Romaina, France, The UK, Egypt, Belarus just to name a few. 

But if it is anything collectible, don't buy it out of China.