Well, this one is great. The pictures say it all. The heads side is particularly awful, and the edges are a joke. Even if the writing was legible, the letters wouldn't line up with the letters on a genuine coin of the same type and date.
Showing posts with label Counterfeit Pound Coin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Counterfeit Pound Coin. Show all posts
Counterfeit Pound Coin 5
7 May 2012
Well, this one is great. The pictures say it all. The heads side is particularly awful, and the edges are a joke. Even if the writing was legible, the letters wouldn't line up with the letters on a genuine coin of the same type and date.
Well, this one is great. The pictures say it all. The heads side is particularly awful, and the edges are a joke. Even if the writing was legible, the letters wouldn't line up with the letters on a genuine coin of the same type and date.
Counterfeit Pound Coin 4
4 Feb 2012
Well, here's another one, and once again it's a bridge coin. This time it's Thomas Telford's suspension bridge across the Menai Straits in Wales.
So, it's not so much a matter of what's wrong with this coin, but what's right with it. It's faults are very similar to my previous post on the Egyptian Arch bridge. Soft, fuzzy impressions, fat lettering, appalling edges showing evidence of filing.
The heads side is unevenly impressed, shallower on the bottom right.
In both cases they got the two sides aligned correctly, and that's the best you can say for them both.
One interesting feature of this coin, but which does not show up on the photographs, is that the heads side has a faint texture. It is covered in a series of tiny lines that give it the look of brushed aluminium.
Well, here's another one, and once again it's a bridge coin. This time it's Thomas Telford's suspension bridge across the Menai Straits in Wales.
So, it's not so much a matter of what's wrong with this coin, but what's right with it. It's faults are very similar to my previous post on the Egyptian Arch bridge. Soft, fuzzy impressions, fat lettering, appalling edges showing evidence of filing.
The heads side is unevenly impressed, shallower on the bottom right.
In both cases they got the two sides aligned correctly, and that's the best you can say for them both.
One interesting feature of this coin, but which does not show up on the photographs, is that the heads side has a faint texture. It is covered in a series of tiny lines that give it the look of brushed aluminium.
Fake Pound Coin 3
23 Oct 2011
Well, here's another one. And I would say that it was obvious, except I didn't notice it for days.
This is the famous 'Egyptian Arch' bridge design, which always looks weird. This one is weirder. It's fuzzy and soft looking, as though the die was made of plasticine.
The heads side has almost no detail, and the words, 'ONE POUND', are far too fat.
The tails side suffers similar faults and is also unevenly struck so that the bottom right is much fainter than the top left.
The edge is badly and unevenly marked, and looks as though it has been filed.
Fake Pound Coin 2
25 Sept 2011
The first and most obvious thing about this coin is the state that it is in. It looks like someone has taken a hammer to it. That may be part of the forgery or it may be not.
This is a 1985 coin bearing the Welsh leek. I see these a lot, and many of them seem to show unusual signs of wear. I have wondered if many of them are forged, but it is hard to be sure. However, with this one it seems pretty obvious. First of all the lettering on both sides is not only faint and almost unreadable, it is also fuzzy, fat and indistinct.
The lettering around the edge seems to be normal at first glance, the Llantrissant cross is present, as are all the letters, although many are only partial. The obvious assumption is that the damage to the coin caused the disruption of the letters. However, a comparison of the word 'Gwlad' with a correct coin appears to show a misalignment of both the whole word which is tilted down, and the letter G in particular which seems to be too short and misaligned with the W next to it.
I have to admit that I cannot be 100% certain about this one. But my gut feeling is that it is a fake.
The first and most obvious thing about this coin is the state that it is in. It looks like someone has taken a hammer to it. That may be part of the forgery or it may be not.
This is a 1985 coin bearing the Welsh leek. I see these a lot, and many of them seem to show unusual signs of wear. I have wondered if many of them are forged, but it is hard to be sure. However, with this one it seems pretty obvious. First of all the lettering on both sides is not only faint and almost unreadable, it is also fuzzy, fat and indistinct.
The lettering around the edge seems to be normal at first glance, the Llantrissant cross is present, as are all the letters, although many are only partial. The obvious assumption is that the damage to the coin caused the disruption of the letters. However, a comparison of the word 'Gwlad' with a correct coin appears to show a misalignment of both the whole word which is tilted down, and the letter G in particular which seems to be too short and misaligned with the W next to it.
I have to admit that I cannot be 100% certain about this one. But my gut feeling is that it is a fake.
Counterfeit Pound Coin 1
29 June 2011
I have a new obsession. Since learning from the TV that 1 in 40 pound coins was a fake I have decided to make a study of any and all counterfeits that come my way.
This is the first; it was obtained, in change, from the local garage.
At first sight it looks like an ordinary pound coin, and the fakers did get some things right. Everything matches. The two sides are aligned properly and the picture on the tails side matches the date on the heads. Both match the inscription around the edge.
So far so good, but a closer look soon shows that it is not a genuine pound but a not so clever fake.
On both sides the impression is poor. The images, and particularly the writing, seem blurred, as though the letters are thicker than they ought to be, their edges less crisp.
Furthermore the stamping has been slightly misaligned. This can be seen on the heads side as a thinning of the edge on the top and a thickening below. There is also an obvious ridge, particularly noticeable at the bottom of the coin. Lastly there is some disruption of the circle of raised dots at the top of the coin.
The tails side suffers from the same problems. Here again can be seen the evidence of the uneven die strike. The ridge is particularly apparent at the top of the coin.
I have a new obsession. Since learning from the TV that 1 in 40 pound coins was a fake I have decided to make a study of any and all counterfeits that come my way.
This is the first; it was obtained, in change, from the local garage.
At first sight it looks like an ordinary pound coin, and the fakers did get some things right. Everything matches. The two sides are aligned properly and the picture on the tails side matches the date on the heads. Both match the inscription around the edge.
So far so good, but a closer look soon shows that it is not a genuine pound but a not so clever fake.
On both sides the impression is poor. The images, and particularly the writing, seem blurred, as though the letters are thicker than they ought to be, their edges less crisp.
Furthermore the stamping has been slightly misaligned. This can be seen on the heads side as a thinning of the edge on the top and a thickening below. There is also an obvious ridge, particularly noticeable at the bottom of the coin. Lastly there is some disruption of the circle of raised dots at the top of the coin.
The most obvious evidence of fakery comes on the edge of the coin. Although it carries the correct inscription 'Decus et Tutamen', it is badly printed, the lettering unclear and too close to the top of the coin. When placed against a genuine coin (below) it can be seen that the letters are not spaced correctly, the word 'Decus' taking up more space on the fake than on the genuine coin. It is not clear from the photo, but the top edge also shows signs of filing and smoothing.
Conclusion - Obvious fake.
It was returned to its proud owner and has probably returned to the garage by now.
Such are the cycles of life.
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