Saturday 2-12-11

Busy day for me,

Counterfeit coins from China turning up in Wash. state
PORT ANGELES, Wash. - Counterfeit coins by the thousands are turning up in Washington state, and authorities are warning coin collectors to be on the lookout for them.

All or most of the counterfeits appear to be from China.

"Stacks of ingots, bars, all kinds of stuff - they make everything from pennies all the way up to silver dollars," says Port Angeles police officer Duane Benedict. "China is making these things by the thousands."

Several of the fake coins were recently sold to a Port Angeles business, EZ Pawn, for $400. They would have been worth more than $1,500 had they been real, Benedict said.

Officer Benedict got a call from EZ Pawn.

"They brought me in there to look at something they thought was fake. So I was pre-warned. But I picked it up and said, 'What's fake about it?'"

The 20 counterfeit U.S. Morgan silver dollars were supposedly from a century ago. Brian Winters of EZ Pawn has bought coins for years - and even he was fooled.

Unlike most counterfeits, the coins did not all have the same dates. One was a super rare 1893S, worth thousands and thousands.

It was at that time Brian pulled out a loupe and looked at a real coin and a suspect one. He found the "T" and the "I" too thick. All the coins were fake.

The real coin weighed in at 26.7 grams. The fake was two grams lighter.

For those of us without a gram scale - there are other tests for detecting the counterfeit coins.

The real ones have a high-pitched ring when they're dropped. The counterfeits land with a thud.

Also - a strong magnet will detect small amounts of iron in counterfeit U.S. coins. If a supposedly "silver" coin has even a little bit of attraction to the magnet, then it is a fake, Benedict says.

The counterfeits aren't just limited to silver dollars. Other coins - including Indian head pennies - also have turned out to be fakes.

And EZ Pawn says they're continuing to see fake coins brought in by other customers.

And Benedict warns businesses to be suspicious if someone uses only coins to pay for merchandise.

"Use caution if someone brings in a lot of coins to buy something, and look them over carefully," Benedict said.

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/115789384.html

The next four are emails from a friend

Wheat Surges to Highest Since 2008 on China Drought, Middle Eastern Buying
Wheat has surged 82 percent in the past year as drought in Russia, floods in
Canada and parched fields across Europe hurt crops. Countries in the Middle
East and North Africa are accelerating grain purchases as rising food prices
contributed to riots and protests. China, the largest wheat producer, is
facing severe drought in the main, winter-wheat growing region.

http://news.isc.vn/en/worldwide/wheat-surges-to-highest-since-2008-on-china-
drought-middle-eastern-buying.html

Corn Prices To Soar As Chinese Imports Increase Ninefold Compared To
Official Projections
Cotton, wheat, rice, and now corn. If revised Chinese import estimates by
the US Grain Council are even remotely correct, look for corn prices of
$6.80 a bushel at last check to jump by at least 15% in a very short amount
of time. As the FT reports, "Corn prices - and with them, the price of meat
- are set to explode if the latest import estimates from China are correct.

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/corn-prices-soar-chinese-imports-increase-n
inefold-compared-official-projections

Sugar Shortage Looms as Storm Ruins Australian Crop
World sugar output will probably fall short of demand, said Rabobank, after
a cyclone with winds stronger than Hurricane Katrina destroyed homes and
smashed crops in Australia, driving prices to 30-year highs.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-02-07/sugar-shortage-looms-as-storm-ru
ins-australian-crop.html