Chris Perkins

Yes, it would be good to assess the grade, but any picture will not actually show us anything we've never seen will it! I could scan two sides of a coin and rotate one of them at 180 degrees, and put both pictures together! Unfortunately in this situation, and with such a new coin, a picture is about as useful as a chocolate fireguard.

Aha, yes you see, there is a time limit that the post remains editable for! In order to prevent people completely changing what they said at a later date. So, you have the right to remain silent, but anything you do say may be taken down and used as evidence against you ;-) So you have to stand by your opinions always, because once you made it, you can't take it back yourself!!

Yes, i suppose being franked adds an actual date and place to the stamp, making it historically more interesting.

I don't wish to belittle our newest expert member, the highly respected Mr T (I wonder if he also has 5kg of gold chains around his neck? William....Ask your Dad, or watch UK Gold) Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I didn't really feel Geoff imparted very much knowledge at all in his last post for this thread. He gave a very interesting opinion and provided a few real life examples of things to do with forgeries, but he provided no direct answers to the original questions. (probably because there aren't any, and each fogery has to be judged on it's own merits) So don't go getting all starry eyed over our Geoff, will you William, he's just human! (Geoff, do you have publicity shots available?)

It's a good question, and of course all coins should be enjoyed (dare I say, even Churchill crowns, '67 pennies and even 1971 1p's eventually!). Some collectors actually prefer EF coins because they have seem limited circulation, almost like they have more of a story to tell. But with UNC coins, each one (especially the older ones), is in way, a small miracle. For throughout it's whole life people have been able to resist the huge temptation of spending it. But the reason UNC coins are always worth more is simply because they are rarer than EF coins, and there is therfore less supply to meet the demand. Perhaps with stamps, the UNC ones are more common? That would be the reason they are cheaper than used ones. I know nothing about stamps, and they do not appeal to me.

The way my hair is thining I think I'll have a natural No.2 soon anyway!

You're a mere spring chicken Geoff, I'm sure people could mistake us for brothers!

I don't think I would ever buy one individually, but I have accumulated a collection of fakes, from William III, Anne, lots of George III, right up to on of EII. I have a lovely 6 Shillings Irish George III fake and I was offered £60.00 for it. Apart from that I wouldn't have a clue what to ask for them, or what they really are worth. I know that the GIII fake Halfpennies (1770's) are very popular in America, because they were even struck there, some of them. I've been able to sell fakes for more than the real thing in the past on eBay!

Yes I would have thought the chance of that happening would be pretty slim, although the die itself must be secured someway, so that is can be taken out and changed for the next date or when it gets worn. The rev die on your 2p must have come loose and rotated a bit. Interesting. Do you want to sell it?

Friday 19th March 3.30 PM. That's when I'm next on BBC 3 CR with the monthly coin phone in. Last time I was damn cool, you should have heard. I was more nervous about paying a lot of money for a 1934 Crown, than having 250,000 people listen to me live on air.

Yes, if you listen to the broadcast is always was the truth. The public miss heard on a giant scale.

Could it read 'Pfenninge' (the plural) with an 'E' at the end. Perhaps the 'E' has worn off. From the 'A' mint mark (for Berlin) it's most likely Prussian, and should have a crowned coat of arms featuring an eagle on the back with '180 EINEN THALER' written around the top of it? This catalogue says it's worth EUR20.00 if in EF condition. If it's worn and around average, they are common, and not worth very much at all.

Way back in 1825 in Germany nobody knew how to spell, and much like in Great Britain too, there were always local variants. Does the coin actually state '2' on it?

Or just tell me what the writing says on the coin and describe the coat of arms, it should have the name of the state or be identifiable somehow.

I thought that chap from Channel 4 already got the job.

Actually the information given by the colleauge at the BBC (Only name dropping, I'm not a BBC employee or anything!) was completely correct about the New pence 2p. It was just the general public that seemed to have heard it wrong.

Approx size in MM would probably be most useful at this stage. It's probably not quite circular, so measure it at the widest point. Most silver Elizabeth I Coins look very similar indeed.

Yet to confirm a date at the end of April, probably Friday 23rd. So far it's always be a general phone in for the public, I offer the odd wise word, but there's no point trying to teach the public anything is there!

I have nearly 500, but I'm selling them to Motor cyclists as parts at the moment!

Stranger things have happened. Right, when I'm an excentic millionaire, I'll set it up and recruit you both.

What a wonderful idea, we could have special uniforms and be like, the coin police! Arresting people left right and centre for asking stupid questions, storing their coins in sweaty PVC, and collecting Isle of Man Cat coins among other very serious offences. We could even confiscate whole collections that were not being taken care of properly, and put them into a home!

I suppose, in Germany, how on earth would a German police man (and they do all have moustaches!) know what was a real Anne farthing, and what wasn't! But even in the UK I've never heard of anyone getting prosecuted for having demonetized forgeries. I even had my case checked once at Stansted by customs, it had at least 8 forgeries in it. I just explained I was a coin dealer taking this lot to a London coin fair, and they waved me on.

I have some photos of Irish farm animal patterns, other designs that were considered for the first modern Irish coinage, and some look far better than the designs they stuck with. I suppose taste must change over time. Talking of Irish coins I found a 1943 Half Crown yesterday in Fine, one of only an estimated 400, as they were recalled to be melted down (they were .750 silver) and they were replaced with cu-ni coins. Actually, the horse on the back of that isn't too bad. But yes, I do like the South Afriacan Springbok (isn't that the correct animal name?) on my 1947 ZAR proof 5 Shilling coin (soon to appear in the colonial section).

I think if you can show that you had no intent in passing them off as the real things (ie they are part of a collection) then the law enforcement angencies would be very unlikely to persue the matter, especially with old, non legal, non precious metal coinage. It would just cost too much to bother with. It is a very unclear area though. I have quite a few old forgeries; Queen Anne - George VI (Mostly GIII) and find them facinating. I know some people even collect modern fake £1 coins. Now that would be touch and go if you were caught with 50 of them!

I'm normally ok, with 'kind of worn'. I find it usually indicates a grade somewhere below fine. I expect it'll turn out to be a halfpenny, as lots of halfpennies ended up in British American colonies at that time. Some were even forged there.