Either the snack van lady that visits my workplace is very unlucky and is getting fleeced by fellow lunchers or she is a master forger but today in my change from her was a 2004 Forth Bridge fake...........and a very poor copy at that.
On the bridge side the 'railway tracks' are merged in places, detailing isn't good. On the portrait side, it looks a cast copy as it has 'copy cracks' transfered from the master mould onto the coin itself. And the dot is missing on the edge where its meant to be between each end of the 'wavy line' inscription.
All in all, a sh*t copy...........but its mine now!!!
Thursday 27 August 2009
Friday 21 August 2009
Is It Just Me?
Other than the recent Egyptian Arch fakes recently received, is it just my imagination or are shops etc more aware of the problem and are sorting their coins prior to giving out change, as I haven't had as many in the last month or so..............or is it because I haven't been to the pubs and amusement arcades with the kids lately.
Wednesday 12 August 2009
2006 fake coin story...and ALERT!!!
Today, whilst purchasing my sandwich from the snack van that calls at my office, I received a heap of change from the lady. Amongst it was the first time I had seen a fake of the 2006 Egyptian Arch 3rd Portrait Wavy Lines inscripted coin. What had drawn my attention was the wavy line pattern around the edge was incomplete in several areas and the 'ending' dots were not equi-distant from the ends of the lines. Upon closer inspection under my magnifying glass I noticed the tell-tale merging of the 100 beads, the lumpiness of the lettering, the indistinct IRB portrait designers initials and the 'false raised edge' the cast coins appear to have.
This was the first 2006 fake to enter my personal collection.........or so I thought.
I was preparing to go to the cinema tonight and gathered up my loose change from yesterday evenings cinema visit and spotted the faked 2006 coin. I thought to myself 'I obviously haven't tucked it away in my fakes bag, better go do it'.
Then it struck me, I had put dinnertimes one already in there!! In less than 24 hours, I now had received 2 fakes of the same coin. Not only that but the errors in the casting and the apparent 'turning circles' on the face of the coin in the dead centre beneath the arch itself were almost 100% indentical.
Therefore I can only make the following assumption;
Either it is an amazing coincidence or Ipswich and the surrounding area has been recently 'hit' with an influx of 2006 Arch coins. Be aware guys.............
This was the first 2006 fake to enter my personal collection.........or so I thought.
I was preparing to go to the cinema tonight and gathered up my loose change from yesterday evenings cinema visit and spotted the faked 2006 coin. I thought to myself 'I obviously haven't tucked it away in my fakes bag, better go do it'.
Then it struck me, I had put dinnertimes one already in there!! In less than 24 hours, I now had received 2 fakes of the same coin. Not only that but the errors in the casting and the apparent 'turning circles' on the face of the coin in the dead centre beneath the arch itself were almost 100% indentical.
Therefore I can only make the following assumption;
Either it is an amazing coincidence or Ipswich and the surrounding area has been recently 'hit' with an influx of 2006 Arch coins. Be aware guys.............
Saturday 8 August 2009
Chances of a Fake
Based upon the Royal Mints published mintage numbers for each year and the fact that they believe approximately 2.5% of circulating pound coins are fakes, the odds of you having each year date are as follows (according to my calculations);
1983 - 5 to 1.......ie for every 5 pound coins to pass through your hands, 1 would be of this year
1984 - 14/1
1985 - 9/1
1986 - 196/1
1987 - 52/1
1988 - 287/1 - Enough to classify this as the most rarest until 2008
1989 - 29/1
1990 - 21/1
1991 - 53/1
1992 - 56/1
1993 - 18/1
1994 - 69/1
1995 - 59/1
1996 - 23/1
1997 - 36/1
1998 - Uncirculated, unknown mintage numbers
1999 - Uncirculated, unknown mintage numbers
2000 - 19/1
2001 - 32/1
2002 - 26/1
2003 - 33/1
2004 - 52/1
2005 - 21/1
2006 - 52/1
2007 - 78/1
2008 - 522/1 - The Ornamental Arms 3rd Portrait Decus coin holds the current distinction of rarest circulated pound coin
2008 - 69/1 - New Shield design
Faked Coins - 40/1
Therefore by laws of average you are more likely to come across a fake pound coin rather than 12 of the legitimate designs listed above and 13 TIMES more likely to receive one as opposed to the 2008 OA3D coin!!!!
1983 - 5 to 1.......ie for every 5 pound coins to pass through your hands, 1 would be of this year
1984 - 14/1
1985 - 9/1
1986 - 196/1
1987 - 52/1
1988 - 287/1 - Enough to classify this as the most rarest until 2008
1989 - 29/1
1990 - 21/1
1991 - 53/1
1992 - 56/1
1993 - 18/1
1994 - 69/1
1995 - 59/1
1996 - 23/1
1997 - 36/1
1998 - Uncirculated, unknown mintage numbers
1999 - Uncirculated, unknown mintage numbers
2000 - 19/1
2001 - 32/1
2002 - 26/1
2003 - 33/1
2004 - 52/1
2005 - 21/1
2006 - 52/1
2007 - 78/1
2008 - 522/1 - The Ornamental Arms 3rd Portrait Decus coin holds the current distinction of rarest circulated pound coin
2008 - 69/1 - New Shield design
Faked Coins - 40/1
Therefore by laws of average you are more likely to come across a fake pound coin rather than 12 of the legitimate designs listed above and 13 TIMES more likely to receive one as opposed to the 2008 OA3D coin!!!!
2008 Pound Coin Mystery...Part 2
Having consulted with a few persons and also thanks to the comments made by 'The Dark Numismatist', it does certainly appear that the 2008 Ornamental Arms 3rd Portrait Decus coin is indeed genuine, but due to its low mintage numbers, is extremely rare.
The 1988 Crown Over Shield coin is stated as being rare with a circulation number of around 7.1 million, but the 2008 OA3D has only 3.9m made making it effectively twice as rare.
Others agree that its a coin to keep hold of.
Does anyone think we will see this coin 'faked' yet?
The 1988 Crown Over Shield coin is stated as being rare with a circulation number of around 7.1 million, but the 2008 OA3D has only 3.9m made making it effectively twice as rare.
Others agree that its a coin to keep hold of.
Does anyone think we will see this coin 'faked' yet?
Thursday 6 August 2009
The Great 2008 Pound Coin Mystery....
Ok, heres the scenario.
I have in my collection of 'true' pound coins, (that actually got me interested in this 'fake' coin mullarkey in the first instance), at least one 2008 pound coin with the Ornamental Arms, 3rd portrait and the 'Decus' inscription. Detailing is superb, lustre is what you'd expect for a new very limited circulated pound coin. There is absolutely no reason to believe these coins are fakes.
Now the mystery...!!
If you've read my other blog about the Royal Mails downloadable posters and have actually printed them off for yourselves, why on the 'Britains £1 Coin Designs' is the 2008 Ornamental Arms, 3rd Portrait, Decus not shown??
Surely a minor printing error by Royal Mail......
Hang on though, the other downloadable poster entitled 'A Guide For Identifying Genuine Coins' shows all the 'true' designs, perhaps the 2008 O/A 3 Decus is on here.
NO!!!!
But this is the Royal Mints definitive guide to what every single true £1 coin design is like.
Ah, perhaps its a very very very good fake, using the fact that everyone knew the design was changing to a completely new design for 2008/2009.
But again no, on the Royal Mint website they actually list that 3.91 million 2008 OA3D coins were produced, but it doesn't say whether they were to be circulated or uncirculated.
Does this lead us to believe it could actually be a mint error as almost significant as the 'undated 20p saga'??
Whatever the outcome, I'd suggest you hold onto these particular coins if you're lucky to come across them, because fake or not, they are going to be worth more than their £1 face value.
I have in my collection of 'true' pound coins, (that actually got me interested in this 'fake' coin mullarkey in the first instance), at least one 2008 pound coin with the Ornamental Arms, 3rd portrait and the 'Decus' inscription. Detailing is superb, lustre is what you'd expect for a new very limited circulated pound coin. There is absolutely no reason to believe these coins are fakes.
Now the mystery...!!
If you've read my other blog about the Royal Mails downloadable posters and have actually printed them off for yourselves, why on the 'Britains £1 Coin Designs' is the 2008 Ornamental Arms, 3rd Portrait, Decus not shown??
Surely a minor printing error by Royal Mail......
Hang on though, the other downloadable poster entitled 'A Guide For Identifying Genuine Coins' shows all the 'true' designs, perhaps the 2008 O/A 3 Decus is on here.
NO!!!!
But this is the Royal Mints definitive guide to what every single true £1 coin design is like.
Ah, perhaps its a very very very good fake, using the fact that everyone knew the design was changing to a completely new design for 2008/2009.
But again no, on the Royal Mint website they actually list that 3.91 million 2008 OA3D coins were produced, but it doesn't say whether they were to be circulated or uncirculated.
Does this lead us to believe it could actually be a mint error as almost significant as the 'undated 20p saga'??
Whatever the outcome, I'd suggest you hold onto these particular coins if you're lucky to come across them, because fake or not, they are going to be worth more than their £1 face value.
Royal Mints downloadable poster
The Royal Mint website has a great downloadable chart showing all the true reverse designs with their correct portraits, year dates and Latin inscriptions. It prints onto an A4 page and is an excellent guide to what the 'true' pound for each year is.
There is actually 2 different versions of the poster. One is titled 'Britains £1 coin designs' and the other is named ' A Guide For Identifying Genuine Coins'. There is also a third A4 that is called 'Dont Get Trapped With Counterfeit One Pound Coins' which lists the year dates for the various Latin inscriptions etc.
Well worth a look and the time to download and print out.
There is actually 2 different versions of the poster. One is titled 'Britains £1 coin designs' and the other is named ' A Guide For Identifying Genuine Coins'. There is also a third A4 that is called 'Dont Get Trapped With Counterfeit One Pound Coins' which lists the year dates for the various Latin inscriptions etc.
Well worth a look and the time to download and print out.
Fake or uncirculated rarity?
There are 2 pound coins that have never been produced for general circulation, but were made for collectors and presentation sets etc. However on the odd occassion they do 'slip' into the mainstream circulation and are worth looking out for.
1998 Ornamental Arms, 3rd portrait and 'Decus Et Tutamen'
1999 Rampant Lion, 3rd portrait and 'Nemo Me Impune Lacessit'
If you have either of these then you are very lucky, or its a fake!!
1998 Ornamental Arms, 3rd portrait and 'Decus Et Tutamen'
1999 Rampant Lion, 3rd portrait and 'Nemo Me Impune Lacessit'
If you have either of these then you are very lucky, or its a fake!!
Monday 3 August 2009
The Queen has three heads!!
Currently there are 3 seperate designs of the Queens bust for the pound coins as follows;
1983 & 1984 - 1st portrait
1985 until 1997 - 2nd portrait
1998 till present - 3rd portrait (These have the IRB initials under the bust)
Although I currently do not have any in my collection, I'm sure there will be wrong portrait/design fakes out there, becoming what are known as 'mules' if it was a real coin, ie it has the wrong combination of design v bust portrait.
1983 & 1984 - 1st portrait
1985 until 1997 - 2nd portrait
1998 till present - 3rd portrait (These have the IRB initials under the bust)
Although I currently do not have any in my collection, I'm sure there will be wrong portrait/design fakes out there, becoming what are known as 'mules' if it was a real coin, ie it has the wrong combination of design v bust portrait.
Know Your Sequences
The Mint Office have kindly kept the rotation policy of the individual nationalistic designs easy for anyone to follow once you know the sequence.
First 'Rotation'
1983 - UK Design
1984 - Scottish emblem
1985 - Welsh emblem
1986 - Irish emblem
1987 - English emblem
Once this rotation was completed, the 5 year sequence started again and has been maintained thus;
UK Insignia - 1988 - 1993 - 1998 - 2003
Scottish - 1989 - 1994 - 1999 - 2004
Welsh - 1990 - 1995 - 2000 - 2005
Irish - 1991 - 1996 - 2001 - 2006
English - 1992 - 1997 - 2002 - 2007
In 2008 the sequence started again with the Coat of Arms design, but also produced is a 2008 'New' UK Shield design and this will be minted again with the year date of 2009 as well.
First 'Rotation'
1983 - UK Design
1984 - Scottish emblem
1985 - Welsh emblem
1986 - Irish emblem
1987 - English emblem
Once this rotation was completed, the 5 year sequence started again and has been maintained thus;
UK Insignia - 1988 - 1993 - 1998 - 2003
Scottish - 1989 - 1994 - 1999 - 2004
Welsh - 1990 - 1995 - 2000 - 2005
Irish - 1991 - 1996 - 2001 - 2006
English - 1992 - 1997 - 2002 - 2007
In 2008 the sequence started again with the Coat of Arms design, but also produced is a 2008 'New' UK Shield design and this will be minted again with the year date of 2009 as well.
Defects that mark a £1 coin out as a fake
On this site, I am going to classify all of my fake coins by means of comparing them against a list of 'giveaways' that help identify a £1 coin as a fake.
Main Defects
1. Wrong year date versus design (or vice versa ie wrong design for stated year date)
2. Misalignment of Queens head when held upright between thumb and index finger and then spun to see other side
3. Poor of lack of lettering around edge of coin (including poor 'reeding', the vertical bars around the entire edge of the coin, and also the wrong latin inscription for the year of the coin).
3a. In the 'Bridges Series' this insciption is a wavy line, that would be poorly inscribed and mis-matching
4. General colour and weight of coin
5. Fake coins that are cast will have a more rounded, less defined detail about them and the Queen will look slightly chubbier (apologies Your Majesty)
6. Under the third portrait of the Queen, the letters IRB that appear under the bust, will either be illegible blobs or missing
7. Wrong Queens portrait for year date
Secondary Defects
7. Cast coins may also have crack marks on the coin where the mould is breaking up and shows up on the moulded coin copy
8. On the design side of the coin, there are meant to be 100 dots or beads around the border. If these merge or generally disappear from the coin, then its fake
9. Specifically on the Scottish design, the latin inscription that begins 'Nemo' is very often 'Decus Et Tutamen' which is the wrong insciption
10. The Welsh coins do not have the 'Decus' inscription but a seperate Welsh inscription.
11. Cast coins, under a magnifying glass, have a slightly raised edge just in from the main edge of the coin, which helps show it was cast in a mould.
This list is not meant to be complete and I welcome anyone to add to it accordingly.
Main Defects
1. Wrong year date versus design (or vice versa ie wrong design for stated year date)
2. Misalignment of Queens head when held upright between thumb and index finger and then spun to see other side
3. Poor of lack of lettering around edge of coin (including poor 'reeding', the vertical bars around the entire edge of the coin, and also the wrong latin inscription for the year of the coin).
3a. In the 'Bridges Series' this insciption is a wavy line, that would be poorly inscribed and mis-matching
4. General colour and weight of coin
5. Fake coins that are cast will have a more rounded, less defined detail about them and the Queen will look slightly chubbier (apologies Your Majesty)
6. Under the third portrait of the Queen, the letters IRB that appear under the bust, will either be illegible blobs or missing
7. Wrong Queens portrait for year date
Secondary Defects
7. Cast coins may also have crack marks on the coin where the mould is breaking up and shows up on the moulded coin copy
8. On the design side of the coin, there are meant to be 100 dots or beads around the border. If these merge or generally disappear from the coin, then its fake
9. Specifically on the Scottish design, the latin inscription that begins 'Nemo' is very often 'Decus Et Tutamen' which is the wrong insciption
10. The Welsh coins do not have the 'Decus' inscription but a seperate Welsh inscription.
11. Cast coins, under a magnifying glass, have a slightly raised edge just in from the main edge of the coin, which helps show it was cast in a mould.
This list is not meant to be complete and I welcome anyone to add to it accordingly.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
