seuk

Looks like another totally crappy ebay decision! I guess we'll be seeing more 'patterns' or 'I don't know anything about coins' on ebay in the future - after a possible replica stamp has been removed to comply with ebay rules. And sad news for collectors of US contemporary counterfeits and for the genuine collectors of replica coins! What counts as a 'replica', I wonder? A 1933 penny is obviously a replica, but no-one is going to be fooled by a listing claiming it to be genuine. I'd mourn the loss of those good fakes, as Peter says. I can only assume that an 18th Century evasion halfpenny won't count, as they are 1) collected in their own right (as are seuk's favourite series from 1816) and 2) who will rule that a genuinely 250-year-old forged or evasion coin is a "replica"? If the ruling is that items marked COPY aren't allowed, will we then see such items listed as genuine?? I come back to the crucial question - who will rule? As I read it; they will close the replica & reproduction sections. If coins are listed in other sections and openly described as replicas/copies/etc. the listing will be ended if reported or discovered(?) by ebay. It will be interesting to see if there's any new action from ebay with regard to the real problem of fakes sold as genuine coins. At the present moment ebay don't seem to react on fake reports likely because they don't have any expertice in the field. So will they acquire the necessary expertice? Or start to cancel anything reported or just keep ignoring reports as usual? Only US contemporary counterfeits are mentioned - this can hardly include evasions or foreign coins whichs at some point have circulated in the US. However there may be a risk that the new policy will be exported to the other ebay branches and then all contemporary counterfeits could end up being banned!

Looks like another totally crappy ebay decision! I guess we'll be seeing more 'patterns' or 'I don't know anything about coins' on ebay in the future - after a possible replica stamp has been removed to comply with ebay rules. And sad news for collectors of US contemporary counterfeits and for the genuine collectors of replica coins!

Sir John Craig: The Mint http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/170766929839?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649 Graham P. Dyer & Peter P. Gaspar: A new history of the royal mint (Cambridge 1992) I've not read any of them but from description both looks very interesting

Absolutely no expert - but I would use 'The token book' by Paul and Bente R Withers (Galata 2010) and check up on ended auctions on ebay (right now there are 230 results for 17th cent tokens): http://www.ebay.co.uk/csc/Tokens-/58534/i.html?LH_Complete=1&rt=nc&Period=17th%2520Century&_adv=1&_dmd=1&_dmpt=UK_Coins_Tokens_RL&_fln=1&_in_kw=1&_ipg=50&_oexkw=&_okw=&_sop=12&_ssov=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m1539&_udhi=&_udlo=

While RJ Marles (Collectors George III Coins) lists a number of variations of the 1811 3s there's only one type of 1812 mentioned. However I have two coins with slightly different reverse design (obverses seems identical). I) Thick stalks - acorn to the left between leaves. II) Thin stalks - acorn centred between leaves. As I only have these two coins avalible for study there's probably more variations to be found. Btw. Marles states that the number of acrons in wreath is 26 but mine both have 27!

Ok - guess the '26 acorn' is a writing error then. It would be unlikely that both my coin should be different from the gerneral type. Except for the stalks both reverses are using the same punches for leaves and letters etc.

You need a copy of ESC. The number of acorns varies between 24 and 27 and there are also variations in laurel wreath pointing. So it it simply an error by Marles? He lists those variations of 1811 but not of 1812...

Great find Gollum! I'd found it so interesting that I had to buy an original copy My main focus is George III but one need sometime to look outside the borders in order to get a better understanding of ones area of collecting. Strangely it mentions the George IV coins as a popular coining target. I don't find them that common although I have some in my collection (mostly halfcrowns). Wonder what happend to Scotland Yard's collection? Our danish police museum were closed years ago and as far I know they gave the counterfeit coins to the royal coin collection at the national museum in Copenhagen.

To me it looks like C on O (or perhaps an inverted C). If the error were discovered after the first strike it would probably explain why the line is thin. Here a similar example of a danish error coin - K over misplaced N in Skilling:

Byzantine - something like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/11th-Century-Big-Follis-Medieval-Genuine-Ancient-BYZANTINE-Coin-/220925664516?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3370321d04

The 1823 'two pounds' is not without interest. These are pendants made for watch-chains and there are many varities - some better done than others.

You might have a buyer in seuk because he collects forgeries. Sure! I think I have this variation however the reverse is better than mine - so I would be intersted in buying or trade. You can write to: seuk@mail.dk or drop me a PM

http://coins.about.com/od/worldcoins/ig/Chinese-Counterfeiting-Ring/

I'll be visiting London this weekend, staying in Bayswater. Any dealers/flea markets in the area worth checking out?

One would need much better pictures. The genuine counterstamp has the same bust as the Maundy penny. At least that should help identifying the poor counterfeits of which some are likely to be contemporary.

Ealier post on the fake halfcrowns: http://www.predecimal.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=6086&st=0&p=55626&fromsearch=1entry55626

Luckily or perhaps rather strangely it seems very few British coins have been forged. I think in regard to ebay that the only way to deal with the problem is that if one of the major numismantic associations took action. As ebay don't have the expertise its difficult for them to cancel an auction as the informer may be mistaken. Perhaps more helpful would be if the major catalogues (Spink) would include a short description on how to sport the new counterfeits. At the present moment it would probably only need a page or two.

Returned from the Charing Cross Market & London Coin Fair with a total of 3 (!) counterfeits . Unfortunately many dealers seems to be affraid or antagonistic towards selling contemporary counterfeits and hence completely avoids them. I noticed however that some of those dealers had no problem selling the awful 'pattern' fantasy coins... Anyway, got a few contacts which seems promising and had a great stay

Super! Seems I chose the right time for my London visit

Any fake pounds will be reserved for buying George III counterfeits!

Great! Thanks!! Would be nice if I could find a few counterfeits for the collection

And the toned one with no grade advertised (getting on for VF I'd say) is in better state of preservation than the one described UNC - which has clearly been cleaned. That looks more like eBay tomfoolery than fakery. I've bought two of each 'grade' so it will be interesting to see if there's any difference at all He's also selling the 1818 halfcrown - listed under Germany! (guess its the Hanoverian connection )

I think this is as good a place as any to list counterfeits. There are of course more than one factory operating in China (and elsewhere). Some make high quality fakes others low. In some cases I suspect the same masters are used for both. I once bought a Danish 1771 skilling in high quality on ebay. Its one of the most common Danish coins but much collected and rare varities reach faily good prices. A year or two later my coin was reproduced in China!: http://www.jinghuashei.com/html/product/100929235950752.html (of UK coins he only have the 1822 crown for sale at the moment - however in two different grades ) They made the same mistake as with the George III halfcrown - turning the reverse upside down. I'm pretty sure they never had the coin in hand if so it must had been before I bough it. Its more likely that they simply used the ebay auction picture and perhaps a lower grade coin in order to have the size and weight fairly accurate.

A 9th century update to Frakish standard of the series X design ...happy to have the Sceatta though

Case closed - got this reply from Dr David Symons, Curator of Antiquities and Numismatics at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. "I am afraid that the website maker must have garbled the story slightly if it said it is Booth´s Bank of England token forgeries which were later copied. Booth made his own copper trade tokens, with his name on them, as a cover for his forging activities, and it is these copper tokens which were forged by other people later on, when Booth had become infamous and collectors wanted specimens of his tokens."