E-Bay

Got a pound coin off ebay the other week.

Welsh leek, doesn't appear to be fake and I'm told was found in an unopened roll of £1 coins, when opened up in a ladys shop as till change.

However the portrait side is not struck at all and is entirely a flat smooth face. An unnoticed mis-strike by the Royal Mint I assume and certainly worth a fair bit to the right person.

Not a fake but certainly one I wanted to add to my collection of 'oddities'

A Question of Colour

I know that we are all on the look out for anything that has a 'chocolate coin' colouring to it that makes it stand out in the crowd but has anyone else noticed that sometimes you have a 'fake' that seems to be of the more 'white gold' scenario?

I got a 95(!) 3 Lions the other day that, in comparison to true pound coins, seems almost white in colour.

Either I'm right or;
(1) I need a new bulb in my living room or
(2) need to go to Sp*csavers!!

Sandwich Lady again!

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!!!

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.

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.............

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!!!!

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?