I stumbled across this “coin” at a coin show recently and decided to pick it up.
I figured for a 1 oz. silver colorized proof coin like this from Tuvalu, it shouldn't be a bad deal for $40. Well, my luck of course has it that this is pretty much the only Tuvalu counterfeit actually listed on Numista already. The actual coin is supposed to be a 2012 Niue Titanic coin with a completely different obverse as well.
I guess I've learned my lesson to make sure I lookup coins before I buy them, in case I get this unlucky and buy an obvious fake. From first glance I would have had no idea, the design is nice, the guy I bought it from told me it was silver (he may have thought that himself), and it weighs almost perfectly an ounce. It just looked like your standard NCLT, nothing really felt off.
I tested how it sounded compared to genuine silver ounces and it is clear that it isn't silver. Probably copper or nickel since it is not magnetic.
It's crazy the Numista price for the counterfeit is $18 (not sure where that came from), but if someone wants this I'd let you have it for just a few bucks, lol.
Anyways, I just thought I'd share and give people a heads up to keep an eye out for stuff like this. Don't get fooled like I did!